


The Canvas Effect

by neadevar



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Lance is an artist, M/M, Soulmates, it all started with bellybutton piercings, klance, sad college student lance, tattoo artist keith
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2018-06-14
Packaged: 2018-09-11 20:25:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 41,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9015793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neadevar/pseuds/neadevar
Summary: “For god’s sake, Lance, will you please stop drawing cocks on your arm.”“Hey, no, we have a thing, me and dick face. I draw them a penis every morning and evening on the dot.”-------Lance Mcclain is desperate to find his niche in the world, thought he might have when he discovered he had a soulmate. Only his soulmate seems to be a dick. Drowning under student loans and the crushing weight that is adult responsibility Lance tries to figure out where he stands in the grand scheme of the universe. He didn't realize everything would change with just a bellybutton piercing.AU where when you draw on your skin it shows up on your soulmate.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Rating subject to change because of who I am as a person. Huge thanks to my beta Sora for all their help.  
> This probably won't exceed 15 chapters, I've come to realize lots of chapters tends to overwhelm me. We'll see though!

The first time Lance McClain experienced the Canvas Effect he was fifteen years old; sitting on top of his roof staring at the stars and wondering if it would just be easier to let gravity take him and just… _slide off._ He wasn’t suicidal, or even sad, he just was and _that_ was the problem. There was nothing special about him. There was nothing jaw dropping, or shocking, or even interesting about Lance. He didn’t think so at least. In the vast expanse of the universe why at all did he matter? _Could_ he even matter? He was always told he could do anything, _be_ anything, but whatever he did it wouldn’t matter in the end.

 _‘I’m way too young to be having an existential crisis,’_ he had thought. Yet there he was, starting up at the sky wishing he could be more than just _existing._

A tickle on Lance’s arm had him shivering, rubbing at the spot to try and make it go away. Only it didn’t, and while it wasn’t particularly bothersome it was still a little distracting. It felt like someone was drawing on him and Lance had always been particularly ticklish. He tried to ignore it, drawing out constellations in the sky with a finger, but it was insistent. He pulled up his jacket sleeve to scratch at himself only to stop and squint through the dark.

On his arm a small design had begun to show, loops and curves and edges that had it transforming into something Lance thought was strangely pretty. It took him a moment to realize what was happening, and when it clicked in his head his face lit up with a smile. _The Canvas Effect._ Somewhere, _someone_ out there, was drawing on their skin and Lance could feel it, could see it. It made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and his skin break out in goosebumps and he absolutely _loved_ it.

Because maybe, in the grand scheme of things, he didn’t matter. To one person though, he could mean the whole world.

  


Lance had learned about the Canvas Effect at a young age, most people did. If your parents didn’t teach you about it before you started school then you would eventually know there.

It was still something of an anomaly. Scientists weren’t sure what caused it, and honestly they weren’t even sure where to begin to find out more. It happened at different stages, usually during the first twenty years of life, and only maybe a fourth of the population experienced it. Whatever it was, magic or divine intervention, some people were just destined for each other and they only found out when they drew on their skin. Lance still couldn’t wrap his head around it, how he could make a small doodle with a pen on his wrist and miles (and maybe oceans) away someone would turn their own wrist over to find the same exact markings as if he had drawn on them himself. He could jot down notes on his skin, draw little pictures, or even ask questions and that one person, his _soulmate,_ would be able to see it and _answer_ in the same exact way.

While the Canvas Effect wasn’t common it wasn’t exactly rare, and nearly everyone waited with baited breath through the first twenty years of their life to see if they would get to experience it. To see if they could get so _lucky._  

His parent’s weren’t ‘lucky’. Neither of them had experienced it, but Lance figured that was perfectly fine. In some ways even better. You weren’t tied to a specific person. You could date whoever, kiss whoever, have sex with whoever without the lingering guilt in the back of your mind accusing you of being unfaithful. Or maybe that was just Lance. As it was, his kissing days ended that night on the roof. He had someone now. He was _meant_ for someone now.

Lance had spent the next few weeks writing down questions on his arms. _What’s your name? How old are you? Where are you from?_ After weeks with no answer he thought maybe the connection was broken. Was that even possible? Just his luck, maybe the connection only went one way. He figured it wouldn’t hurt to try one more time, just to double check, so with fingers he would _never_ admit were shaking he scrawled out one more question on his arm.

_Can you see this?_

And almost immediately, words were written back.

_Leave me alone._

Lance had sat back in bed with a frown, staring at the words on his arm wondering _what the fuck_ could have earned him such a reaction. Was he coming on too strong? Asking too many questions? Or maybe his soulmate was just a dick.

He shoved his head into his pillow, groaning and kicking out his feet. Of course. He, Lance McClain, was connected spiritually (magically?) to a dick.

And, well, if he was going to be a dick Lance figured it was only appropriate to cover him in them.

  
  


“For god’s sake, Lance, will you _please_ stop drawing cocks on your arm,” Pidge groaned, reaching over to try and swipe the pen from his fingers as if she could possibly stop him. This fight had been going on for years and they were no closer to getting him to stop drawing crude genitalia on his body then they were to growing wings and flying to the moon.

“Hey, no,” Lance danced away from their prying hands. “We have a thing, me and dick face. I draw them a penis every morning and evening on the dot.”

Hunk squinted at his arm, “Is that what they are? I always thought you were drawing misshapen hearts all over yourself.”

“Offended,” Lance retorted, once again twisting out of Pidge’s way. He only drew the best penises for dick face. They deserved no less!

“Your soulmate probably hates you,” Pidge told him, finally swiping the pen away from him.

“If I were only so lucky.”

“Both of you,” Hunk started, glaring accusingly and pointing the end of his pencil at them. “We’re supposed to be studying.”

Lance fell into his chair, hooking a leg over one of the arms and putting the other on top of his book crinkling the paper. “Or, we could call it quits and head out into town. Maybe meet some _girls._ ”

Hunk reached over the table and pushed his foot off of the book, “Or you could take your education seriously and keep on taking notes.”

“Can’t, Pidge took my pen.”

Said pen flew through the air, hitting him in the cheek and bouncing off to land on the ground. Lance stared at the pen on the ground for a moment before he flung himself and the chair back dramatically, landing in a heap on the carpet. “ _Co_ _ñ_ _o!_ I’ve been hit!”

Pidge slammed her book closed, gathering up her notes and pencils. “I give up. You are literally the worst person to study with.”

“I think I’m bleeding!”

Pidge only sighed at that and walked to their room. Lance watched them with a pout, before untangling himself from the chair and standing up.

“Now that our trio is down to two,” he began, grinning at Hunk. “Wanna play some overwatch?”

His best friend closed his book with a groan, “I’m never going to pass this semester with you around.”

  
  


Lance’s recklessness used to get him into a lot of trouble. He’d talk back to teachers, get detention **,** and mostly it was because he didn’t know how to keep his mouth shut. Even now he had trouble watching what he said. He liked to think he was doing better though. Still, he was incredibly impulsive.

He toyed with his stomach, plucking at the skin of his belly button pondering. He looked so… normal. Maybe normal wasn’t so bad but he desperately wanted to be _not_ normal. Everything he did and said was to stick out. When he was outside he felt a little more at peace, but when he was laying in bed with his eyes closed he felt so completely _plain._

He stuck his head out from his room with a grin, shouting loudly. “ _Pidge!_ Let’s get our bellybuttons pierced!”

“You’ve _got_ to be kidding me,” Hunk groaned next door.

Pidge stuck their head out and grinned back Lance. “Seriously?”

“I got a lot of nice tips at my last shift at _Segobiano’s_ ,” Lance called out as he dug around in his room looking for his wallet. He chucked in in here yesterday, but _where_?

Pidge came padding into his room, alien slippers on and still in their green and white plaid PJ’s. “This was sudden.”

“I’m feeling too mediocre,” he explained, finally finding his wallet underneath his bed. “Studying Communication doesn’t leave much room for excitement.”

“And getting a piercing is the answer?”

“Getting a piercing is always the answer.”

“Lance, you cried when you got your ears pierced.”

Lance tugged at his ear, fingering the stud in it and pouting. “They were tears of joy.”

Pidge only raised an eyebrow at him before taking their phone out and typing. “My brother knows a guy who does piercings. Let me get the address to their shop and then we can go. I still have Christmas money I’ve been stashing that I can use.”

“Aren’t you guys going to think about this a little?” Hunk asked, leaning against Lance’s door.

“Thinking is what smart people do,” Lance explained. He dug around in his closet looking for a pair of clean pants. “I want to not be smart today.”

He held a pair of light blue jeans up to his face and sniffed them. Not clean, still they were the only pair left so they’d have to do. He chucked off his sweatpants, ignoring disgusted cries from Hunk and Pidge, and slipped them on. He left the grey shirt he had on and then grabbed his jacket.

He felt a tracing on his arm, and he looked down to see designs being drawn. He scowled and shook his head. Quickly grabbing a pen he scrawled a dick right in the middle of the design in an attempt to mess it up. The drawing quickly stopped, and he felt a sense of satisfaction.

_I win._

“I’ve got the address,” Pidge piped up. “His friend Shiro is the one who does the piercings. He used to come over all the time when I was younger.”

Hunk groaned, “I’ll go try to start up Rosalina.”

Rosalina was a grey 1996 Honda Accord that Lance considered the love of his life. The stereo make funny banging noises when you turned it up too high, the dashboard had a crack that he kept promising the car he’d fix but never had the money to, and every bump they went over threatened to shake the rust holding the car together loose. She was nearly impossible to start in the winter and she liked to stall a few times after she was filled up. Lance loved her though, and made a point to tell her every time he sat inside of her.

After Hunk couldn’t get her started Lance climbed into the front seat. He rubbed her steering wheel lovingly, turning the key and listening to her struggle. “Come on baby, I know it’s cold outside but you can do it.”

Pidge insisted on taking the front seat, hopping in before Hunk could move to stop her. He grumbled as he climbed into the back seat kicking away fast food bags and a few empty bottles from his way.

It took a few more tries and a lot more cooing from Lance before Rosalina roared to life. He cheered happily, pulling out from his parking space and away from their apartment complex. He insisted on listening to Shakira on the way, shaking his hips on his seat as the other two groaned and complained loudly. They shut up after he threatened to put on Kesha instead.

When they pulled into the shop Lance’s fingers were trembling. He stared at the sign on the door, “The Paladins” blinking next to an “Open” sign, trying to remember where his earlier excitement and bravery came from. He chewed on the inside of his lip, was getting a piercing _really_ the answer? There had to be other ways he could try and make his niche in the world. Getting a belly button piercing hardly made him stand out.

“Chickening out?” Pidge mocked, nudging him with an elbow.

Lance scoffed, “No!”

He threw open the door and walked into the store before they could mock him further. Pidge and Hunk followed behind.

“Pidge!”

They all looked over to see a man walking out from the back, a towel in his hands that he promptly threw on the table. Lance took a step back, counting his breaths as he tried to remember how to breath, because _shit_ no one had the right to look that attractive. Pitch black hair tapered into white at his forehead, a scar across his nose, and he had arms that were the size of his thigh.

Pidge grinned. “Hey Shiro!”

“Long time no see,” He said, pulling them into a hug. Lance noticed the prosthetic arm then and he tried not to stare. It hardly seemed to bother him though, with the way he seemed to be using it as much as his other hand. “I haven’t seen you in years!”

“College,” they said, wrinkling their nose. “I have no social life anymore.”

Lance pouted, “You have me!”

“You don’t count.”

Okay, wow, rude. Lance stuck his tongue out at them and crossed his arms over his chest.

Shiro let them go, staring over and Lance and then Hunk. “Who are your friends?”

“Shit face and Hunk.”

He was going to drop kick them out of the window. The man raised an eyebrow and Pidge shrugged.

“This is Lance,” they said pointing to him. “But his name is actually Hunk.”

Shiro held out a hand, his fake one, and it took Lance a moment to respond and actually shake it.  Shit, he was really looking like an asshole. Hunk took his hand next, no hesitation, and Lance chose to look around the shop then instead of dwelling on how much of a dick he was making himself out to be.

It was small, cute almost, two tattoo stations set up on one end, a swiveling chair and a padded bench against the wall on the other end, tables on either side of them. The walls were covered in art and photos of people, all with either red rimmed tattoos that Lance assumed had to be new or piercings. There were photo albums set up on the counter, one currently opened showing a detailed picture of a lion chasing some stars, and racks of body jewelry locked up in glass containers. The lights were bright, which helped make the room seem a little bigger then it was, and there were christmas lights hanging up on one wall.

There was a boy at the counter right then, and Lance nearly walked out of the shop just to avoid making a fool of himself. His hair was stupid, looking too much like a mullet to be remotely okay in this day and age, but Lance has to admit grudgingly that it looked really good on him. Light blue eyes looked around bored as he wiped down the counter with the towel that Shiro had thrown. His long sleeves were tugged up a fraction to keep them from getting in the way, and he kept his head down and away from them. He didn’t have the same kind of attractiveness as Shiro, but he was utterly adorable and it pissed Lance off.

_‘Is everyone here hot?!’_

“So what brings you in here?” Shiro asked.

Right, back to business.

“Lance and I want to get our bellybuttons pierced.” Pidge told him.

Shiro nodded and walked behind the counter, Pidge and Lance stepping closer to it. Lance made sure to maneuver so that Pidge was closest to the cute boy cleaning. Mostly so he wouldn’t have to look at him and keep losing his train of thought. Hunk didn’t follow them, choosing to look over the art on the walls.

Shiro spun one of the glass cages around so that the naval rings faced them. “Don’t choose any of the dangly ones. If that gets caught on something while it’s still healing you’re going to hate yourself.”

Lance forced himself to focus on the jewelry and far away from the cute boy, who had moved from cleaning to go talk with Hunk. Good, Lance figured. Less chance of making a ass of himself.

“Oh! This one has stars!” Lance pointed excited at it. “Pidge, lets get matching belly button rings!”

Pidge squinted at it before grinning at Shiro, “Please tell me you have more then one of that.”

Shiro spun the rack around to take a look at it before nodding and digging below the counter. He began to discuss prices with them as Hunk walked over.

“I think I want a tattoo,” Hunk said.

“Mhm,” Lance hummed, not really paying attention. He turned around and grinned at him. “I’m getting one with stars.”

“Hey Keith!” Shiro shouted. “Since you don’t have any appointments right now can you help me out over here?”

Cutie - Keith - walked over then, opening one of the drawers and digging around. “What gauge?”

“Fourteen,” Shiro told him, pulling out the rings and double checking to make sure they were the ones they wanted. “ID’s please? It’s kind of a formality.”

Lance watched as Keith pulled out a couple of packaged needles, alcohol swabs, and a package of gloves. The boy turned to look over at them, “All three of you?”

Pidge shook their head and pointed a thumb at Lance, “Just me and him.”

Keith nodded and pulled a couple of the stools out of the corner. Lance refused to admit he was looking at his ass the entire time. Jeans that tight should be illegal. Who gave him the _right_?

Shiro pulled out a couple forms and two pens, handing them to Lance and Pidge for them to sign out. Lance barely processed it, signing his name and the date at the bottom.

Shiro took the forms, reading them over, before motioning them over to the chairs. He picked up a stool from behind the counter on the way. “Who’s going first?”

Pidge shoved Lance forward, “Him, before he chickens out.”

Keith raised an eyebrow at him as he placed the materials on the table beside the chair. “Need someone to hold your hand?”

Lance bristled at that, face flushing, “What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“He might, he cried when he got his ears pierced.” Pidge piped up.

“Tears of joy!” Lance cried out, waving his arms. “Why’d you have to tell him that?”

Keith’s mouth quirked up at the edge, “Are you sure you can handle getting your belly button done?”

Lance grumbled under his breath, sitting on the padded bench that Shiro motioned him towards. He leaned back and pulled his shirt up over his stomach.  His fingers shook as he gripped the fabric and with the way Keith tried, and failed, to suppress a snort it didn’t go unnoticed. He ground his teeth together. Of course, Cutie just had to be an asshole as well as hot.

“Keith, be nice, you cried when I pierced your tongue.”

Keith’s mouth gaped, looking like he was struggling to form a coherent sound before managing. “You sobbed when I tattooed your back.”

“Good thing I had Allura’s hand to hold,” Shiro said, not even bothered.

Keith’s eyes narrowed at that, choosing to change the subject. “When’s my next appointment?”

“At four; so, unless we get a drop in, you’re free for a couple of hours.”

Lance hissed as Shiro wiped his stomach down with a cold alcohol wipe. His stomach started doing weird flips, and he found that he _really_ wanted to prove to Keith that he could get this done just fine. He bounced his leg anxiously until Pidge reached over to still it. So much for keeping cool.

“Where is Allura?” Pidge asked, looking around the shop.

“She’s at home taking care of the baby,” Shiro told her. “Jaimee has a cold and won’t let her go. Upper or lower?”

It took a minute for Lance to realize he was talking to him. “Uh, lower.”

Shiro uncapped a sharpie, making a dot on his skin, “That spot look okay?”

“Yeah, looks good. Looks great.”

‘ _Am I shaking?’_ He swallowed hard, looking up at the ceiling and anywhere away from Shiro or the needles on the desk. Lance paled when Shiro pinched the skin of his bellybutton between a clamp. _Here it comes, here it comes, here it comes._

“Need that hand now?” Keith asked, smirking.

“Do you have anything better to do other than be an ass- _Hijo de puta!_ ”

 _Shit, shit, shit, shit._ Lance sat up a little, looking down and visibly going green.

“See?” Shiro said as Lance stared down at the needle sticking through his skin. “It wasn’t that bad.”

Lance thought he was going to pass out. He felt his vision waver, the needle in his stomach dancing, and _fuck_ this was so not looking cool right now. He glanced over for a second and noticed that Keith actually looked kind of worried. Still amused, but worried.

Hunk immediately stood behind Lance, putting his hands on his shoulders to gently lower him back until he was laying down again. “Stay with me big guy.”

“I’m _fine_!”

Shiro stuck the end of the ring against the needle, coaxing it out as he pushed the ring through. Lance kept his eyes shut tight, refusing to look at anyone let alone anything. It wasn’t until Hunk told him he could open his eyes that he looked at his stomach.

“Huh,” he started. “That wasn’t awful.”

And _shit_ did it look cool. Best decision of his _life_!

Pidge barked out a laugh at the same time Keith fought back his own, a hand pressed to his mouth and his shoulders shaking with the effort. Shiro only smiled as he wiped it down once again, cleaning off the little bit of blood that had accumulated. Lance glared at the laughing pair before gingerly lowering his shirt and hopping off of the stool.

He leaned against the wall, poking at his throbbing stomach. “My tummy has a heartbeat.”

Keith rolled his eyes, gathering up the used materials to dispose of them. “You’ll be okay.”

Lance narrowed his eyes at him. “Do you know how to not be condescending?”

“It’s not my fault if you take it that way.”

Was he? Maybe he was being a little too aggressive, but when he looked at Cutie’s face he couldn’t help but felt it was deserved. No one had the right to be that hot.

Lance decided he hated him.

After a moment Pidge hopped up onto where he had been sitting. Theirs seemed to go much faster, or maybe it just seemed to take forever because he was (not scared, never scared) excited. He had to look away when Shiro pushed the needle through, looking at Keith instead. He had his lower lip between his teeth as he pulled his hair into a small ponytail. Lance felt his face go red. In a shitty messy ponytail he was somehow cuter, and Lance wanted to scream. Before he could look away Keith turned and caught him staring, raising an eyebrow in question. Lance only stuck his tongue out childishly in a panicked response before looking back towards Pidge.

Pidge hopped off the stool, whooping as they stared down at their stomach. “It looks so cool!”

Lance grinned at them, “We’re twinners!”

“If you say that again I will rip your ring out from your stomach.”

“Well deserved,” Keith muttered.

Asshole.

Shiro launched into a speech about how they should take care of their piercings, how to clean them, blah blah blah. Lance trusted Pidge to listen because Keith was now back to work cleaning up the shop and he could stare at his butt in those tight jeans as he moved. He really wanted to grab his ass to see if it felt as good as it looked, and he hurriedly shoved them into his pocket just in case Keith got too close and he couldn’t help himself. _Ay dios mio._

Hunk drove them back home, Lance still too shaky with nerves and Pidge hating to drive.

“I’m seriously considering getting a tattoo,” Hunk said. “Lance, if I get a tattoo will you come with me?”

“Sure,” Lance muttered, glaring out the window with his head still stuck on Keith. He couldn’t remember the last time someone annoyed him that badly, but maybe annoyed wasn’t the right word. Intimidated? Flustered?

No, annoyed. Lance refused to admit that he was either of those things. Keith could be as cute as he wanted but he was determined to not like him. Hate him even.

“Promise?”

“Sure.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations -   
> Coño - Its like saying shit or damn (If I remember correctly. My Spanish is rusty af and I'm ashamed at how much I'm going to have to google and ask friends about for this story)  
> Hijo de puta - Son of a whore/bitch


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ‘A major in communication,’ Lance thought dully. ‘I’m on my way to becoming your regular jaded adult.’

Lance would never admit it, but sometimes the feeling of his soulmate drawing on their skin was the only reason he got through the day. His classes were long and boring, his job tried everyday to suck his will to live right out of him, and other than his paintings he had no other way to relax. When his professor droned on and on and on, he could lean back and just _feel._ He found jotting down the notes was easier when they were drawing on themselves because for some reason it kept him focused. When an asshole customer insisted on being difficult and then _not leave a goddamn tip_ he could feel his soulmate and it was enough to be able to put on a smile for his next table. 

Lance’s life felt terribly mundane. School, work, sleep, repeat. It had been the same thing for the past 3 years of his life since graduating high school. Sometimes, though, when he went to bed with pretty designs on his arms Lance could pretend it wasn’t so bad. 

The last class of the day couldn’t go by quick enough, not that he could just head on home afterwards anyways. He would have barely enough time to change into his uniform and make it for his shift at  _ Segobiano’s.  _ Still, at this point anywhere was better then there.

_ ‘A major in communication,’  _ Lance thought dully.  _ ‘I’m on my way to becoming your regular jaded adult.’ _

His stomach throbbed, as if in reminder, that he hadn’t quite hit that point yet. He fingered his new piercing gently. It had only been a few days so it was still quite sore but Lance hadn’t been this happy with himself in years. Sure, Keith was kind of a set back (a hot, breath taking set back) but he was determined not to let him ruin the experience he had. 

And speaking of Keith, if not for the designs being drawn on his arm currently, he would have been flipping papers and books in annoyance. Keith rarely left his head, and the more he thought about him the more risque his thoughts became. What started out as ‘ _ Shit he’s such a fucking ass’  _ turned into ‘ _ Shit I need my mouth on that ass’  _ and it pissed. Him. Off. 

Lance traced the design on his arm over his jacket, right below where he had drawn a dick that morning. Maybe it was getting old but by now it was almost their thing. They drew pretty designs and he drew genitals, because _maybe_ after all these years he was still hung up on being blown off like that. Weren’t they supposed to meet? Find out more about each other?

He leaned his cheek against his hand, waiting for his Professor to end his explanation of their newest essay (due tomorrow  _ fuck _ ) so he could finally escape. Hungry, grumpy customers would be a blessing after this. The lecture ended, and Lance shoved his books and papers haphazardly into his bag, slinging it over his shoulder and practically jumping over people in his haste to escape. 

Rosalina only put up a bit of a fight, taking three good turns of the key before she puttered to life. Lance thanked her profusely for cooperating. At the first red light he hit he threw off his shirt and jacket and pulled on his work shirt. He dug around in the dash blindly for his name tag, pricking himself with the pin and nearly swerving into oncoming traffic in his shock. Tag on, bleeding finger in mouth, Lance managed to make it to  _ Segobiano’s  _ in one piece. 

_ Segobiano’s _ was a quaint, little, locally owned mexican restaurant. Or, well, what passes as mexican food these days in the US. They didn’t even serve menudo, which Lance felt was terribly lame. Other than that minor flaw he really did love the place. The mariachi music playing through the restaurant reminded him of home and it was nice to be able to speak his mother tongue with people who actually  _ knew  _ what he was saying. The walls were painted bright yellow and red, dark wooden tables were arranged around the floor, and Aurelio - the owner - was constantly decorating the place with things his wife found in yard sales or auctions. 

With a huff Lance  parked in the back, pulled out his phone to check the time, and -.

“Fuck,” he muttered. He was ten minutes late.

He threw open his door, barely remembering to lock his car, before he sprinted inside. He quickly made his way to the back, clocking in, and was still tying his apron around his waist when he heard a voice pipe up.

“You’re late.”

He turned to grin at Josie, her wide hips cocked and a stack of dishes in her hands. Curly black hair was pulled into a bun at the back of her head and eye liner was smudged underneath her eyes from sweat. She was a plump woman, someone Lance absolutely loved to hug, and stood at a whopping four foot eleven inches. 

“Josie!” He exclaimed.

“You’re late,  _ conejito, _ ” she repeated with a heavy spanish accent. She walked past him and nudged him with her hips. “Aurelio isn’t happy.”

“Only by ten minutes,” he defended. 

She raised an eyebrow at him, “Don’t let it happen again, he said he’s going to let it slide this time but you aren’t going to be let off easy the next.”

“It won’t happen again,” Lance promised, sincerely hoping it wouldn’t. He loved Josie, and disappointing her was like disappointing his own mother. It left an ache on his stomach and a bad taste in his mouth. 

His shift went by faster than he thought it would. Ten at night hit and the restaurant was closed up and instead of heading home to work on his essay (like he knew he should be doing) he stood by his car with Josie instead. She pulled a pack of cigarettes out of her apron. He didn’t even have to ask before she handed one to him.

“I shouldn’t do that,” she said as she lit her cig and then his. “Smoking is bad for you.”

“I don’t do it often,” Lance shrugged. “Only with you really. I don’t really go out of my way to smoke.” 

He took a drag, tilting his head up to blow it out. He stayed there for a moment, looking at the stores, and wondered distractedly if his soulmate was looking at the same ones. 

“So,” Josie began, the edges of her mouth quirking up in a small smile. “Who’s Keith?”

Lance jumped, nearly dropping his cigarette, “W-What?”

“Heard you cursing about him earlier.” She tapped at her cig, watching the ashes fall to the ground. “Finally found the one who’s been making pretty designs on your arms?”

“Fuck no,” he muttered. Josie reached over to flick his ear for cussing, but he was used to this kind of behavior by now and managed to duck out of the way.

“So who is he?” She insisted, and Lance knew better than to hope that she would drop it if he tried to change the subject.

Lance scowled. “Some kid who works at the shop I got my belly button done at. Complete asshole.”

“With a nice butt?”

He felt his face flush, and he tapped his cig nervously. “What?”

She smirked. “Heard you cursing about that too.”

Lance blushed darker, looking away. “Yeah, well, the universe has me spoken for. Besides, I hate him. He’s a jerk.”

“Oh, my  _ conejito, _ ” Josie reached over, patting his cheek. “Have you tried to reach out yet?”

“No,” he admitted. “It would be pointless.”

She only sighed, finishing off her cigarette before tossing it on the ground, putting it out with her shoe. “You’re hopeless.”

Lance grinned, finishing off his as well. “But you love me.”

Three AM saw Lance hunched over his laptop, trying desperately to finish his essay. He couldn’t focus, mind coming around to Keith every time he started to get somewhere with his homework. He wanted to scream, or cry, or both. Or give up, giving up sounded good. He could drop out of college, keep his mediocre waiter job, and pretend he was a valid member of society. The picture of his mom smiling from his bedside table had him shaking his head. He couldn’t give up, not yet.

He finished it at five AM, and fell asleep with his laptop still open.

  
  
  


“What kind of tattoo should I get?”

“Hunk, for the last time I  _ don’t know. _ ”

Lance scowled at Pidge and Hunk, walking over to the couch and wedging himself between the two of them. “Pidge, humor the poor guy.”

“I’m trying to do  _ homework.  _ You know, like you should be doing too,” Pidge retorted, scooting over to make more room for Lance though, reluctantly. They balanced their book a bit better on their knees and moved their papers around trying to make sense of the mess on their lap.

“I’m thinking of getting something to represent my culture,” Hunk continued. “Like, maybe Hawaii’s state flower? State bird?”

“Put it on your butt,” Lance told him. He leaned against Pidge and threw his legs over his best friend’s lap. He pressed at the bags underneath his eyes with a sigh. He had forced himself out of bed at noon and he still felt like he could have slept for two more days.

“ _ Lance  _ I’m serious!”

He held up his hands in surrender. “Alright, alright, sorry. The state flower would be cool, you could have a design with it wrapping around your arm or something?”

Hunk turned pleading eyes toward him, “Will you design it for me?”

“I’m not good at stuff like that, you know that,” Lance told him. Anything other than paints came at a loss to him. Pen and ink looked like a child had done it, markers looked too damn messy, he tried his hand at digital once but that was only  _ once.  _

“Don’t you have a paper to turn in?” Pidge asked him, nudging him with a bony elbow.

Lance pouted, “I already did! Sent it off to my professor like ten minutes ago.”

“Keith was saying he or Allura could design it for me,” Hunk explained. “It will just cost extra and take longer. Maybe I should just go that route?”

“Sounds like it would be best, dude,” Lance told him, visibly tensing at the mention of Keith. He was the  _ last  _ person he wanted to think about. Keith thoughts required a full night's rest, at least two cups of coffee, and something soft to throw in frustration. “I’d do it if I could, but you do  _ not  _ want what I could make tattooed on your skin for forever.”

Hunk sighed and leaned against Lance. “Aren’t you supposed to be at school?”

Lance scowled, looking away from him. “I’m taking the day off.”

_ ‘Maybe never going back,’  _ he thought bitterly. He got a look from Hunk, nearly rivaling his own mother’s disappointed stare but not quite. He pointedly chose to look away from him, pulling out his phone instead to play crossyroads.

The game had barely loaded up when his phone was ripped from his hands. “Hunk, what the hell?!”

“You do not have the grades to be skipping class,” Hunk told him sternly. 

“You’re not my mom,” Lance responded. He reached over to take his phone back but his friend only moved it from his reach.

“No, but if she were here she’d be hitting you with that wooden spoon of hers for blowing off your schooling.” 

Lance visibly flinched at the mention of his mom, managing to grab his phone before hopping off the couch. “Whatever.”

“ _ Lance, _ ” Hunk moved to follow him.

“I’m going to paint,” he told him, not even bothering to answer his question. 

Hunk knew better than to fight with him when he said that. There were very few ways Lance felt he could express himself, feeling too limited in his human skin and stretched too thin.  _ ‘I’m going to paint’  _ for Lance was like saying  _ ‘I’m too frustrated to do anything else’.  _ And he  _ was  _ frustrated. Frustrated because his grades were shit, he wanted to sleep for a week, and it didn’t seem to be getting any better. Frustrated because all he wanted to do was quit. 

If he did he was pretty sure his mom would come back from the dead just to beat his sorry, deadbeat ass.

Lance shut the door to his room loudly, just to make sure that everyone knew that he was upset and not to bother him.  _ Especially  _ Hunk. He knew he didn’t mention his mom to spite him, Hunk was better than that. He just didn’t want to mention her at all. Ever. When he even  _ thought  _ about it he just wanted to curl up underneath his bed covers and cry. 

He barely spared a glance to the picture of her on his bedstand, couldn’t handle looking longer right then, before sinking to his knees and reaching underneath his bed for his paints. It took a little longer to find a canvas that was blank and with a sigh he realized he’d have to buy more soon. Color palette chosen, tarp out to protect the floor and easel set up, he went to work.

Or he tried to, but while his hands worked his brain seemed to disconnect. He couldn’t focus, couldn’t stop thinking, and painting was supposed to help him  _ not  _ do this. He couldn’t stop thinking of his mom, of sitting in the stool helping to stir the pot of salsa so it didn’t burn. Watching her try to keep the plants in the house alive but never succeeding, throwing them out after a couple weeks before dragging him and his sisters out to buy more. He thought back to the times she’d chase him out of the kitchen with her wooden spoon when he got caught tasting what she was making and stealing ingredients to snack on. He thought back to how she could never get movie titles right no matter how many people corrected her, or how when she stubbed her toe she had to sit down or else she might pass out; or how frustrated she got when her curly hair frizzed up in damp heat. 

He couldn’t stop thinking about the night he found out she passed away, a week after his generals were completed and just five days before his flight home. He could still hear the way his older sister sobbed in his ear on the phone, barely managing to get the words out to tell him she had a heart attack. He thought about how he sobbed in his bathroom all night because he didn’t have the money to book another flight because he had already spent everything in his savings for that one ticket. Hunk and Pidge had pooled their savings to get him a flight down there the next day. Hunk used his other ticket, meeting to help Lance get through it all as he and his sisters tried to figure out funeral plans as his father had locked himself in his room and was no help. He remembered when he saw his mom in the casket, how his world tilted out from under him and he barely kept himself from falling apart as Hunk and his oldest sister helped him back to his seat. 

Lance didn’t put down his brush for good until his hand was cramping up and his room was starting to get dark. He had just paused to get a better look at what he was actually painting, if he was painting anything tangible at all or just smearing colors in a fit of frustration. He didn’t pick up his paintbrush again though when he realized he had been painting a portrait of his mom. He grabbed the painting off of the easel, not even bothering to not try and smear the paint on it, before sticking it on the corner with all of his other paintings. He leaned it there carefully to make sure it wouldn’t ruin the other paintings he had done, but also making sure that it couldn’t be seen from any angle in the room. 

He opened his door, deciding he ought to apologize to Hunk for being kind of an ass, but stopped short when he saw the plate of food there. Enchiladas, his mother’s recipe by the smell of it, with a heaping spoonful of guacamole on the side. The tears pricking at the back of his eyes spilled over then, grabbing his plate of food and walking through the house looking for Hunk. He found him in his room, hunched over a book and pen working furiously over paper. 

“You’re an ass,” Lance managed to sob, not at all what he wanted to say but all that he could  _ think  _ of saying.

Hunk jumped and spun around, having obviously been spooked at the intrusion. His face softened when he saw how much of a mess Lance was. He chewed on his lower lip before speaking, “I know.”

Lance shook his head, walking over and sitting on his bed so he could actually eat his plate of food. “Not for earlier, for  _ this!” _

His best friend’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “I made your mom’s recipe. It’s your favourite. I thought it might cheer you up.”

“It  _ does! _ ” Lance wailed, over a mouthful of food. He didn’t bother trying to wipe the new tears off of his face too busy trying to cut up another bite with shaking hands. “I don’t want to be cheered up though! I want to wallow in misery and self pity and never do anything again and become a bum!”

“Lance,” Hunk started, pushing his chair away from his desk and moving to sit next to him.

“It’s true!” Lance sniffled, loud and gross, and he looked around for anything he could blow his nose on. He settled for one of Hunk’s dirty shirts, and Hunk didn’t have it in him to complain about it.

“You know I’ll support you through almost everything,” Hunk told him, draping an arm over his shoulder. “But becoming a bum is not one.” 

Lance blew his nose loudly and sat the soiled shirt beside him, taking another bite of his food and only crying harder. “I’m  _ tired  _ though. I’m tired and lost and done with being human and everything it entails! I just want to have it all figured out already.”

“I don’t think anyone has it all figured out.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

Hunk smiled softly. “Maybe a little less alone.”

Lance opened his mouth to say something, but stopped before he could. He looked down at his arm, shaking it out a little as a small design began at the inside of his elbow. He was particularly ticklish there, and it was hard to ignore.

“They’re doing it again,” he muttered sadly.

Hunk started to reach for a pen, “Want to draw a penis on your arm?”

“...No….”

“Come on, it always makes you feel better.”

Lance chewed on his lower lip, thinking about it, before holding out his hand for the pen. “Fine.”

A penis was inked, but his soulmate didn’t stop their own drawing. For once Lance was actually kind of grateful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations -  
> Conejito: Little bunny, usually used for someone who is fast paced
> 
> Also I'm sorry??? It hurt me too
> 
> Conversation between me and my beta Sora because I was cackling  
> Sora: okay  
> Sora: listen  
> Sora: it is one of the unwritten rules of how not to be uncool  
> Sora: you don't kill off LAnce's mother  
> Sora: how dare you  
> Also  
> Sora: LANCE IS SO PURE AND BEAUTIFUL AND YOU HURT HIM  
> Me: I hate myself  
> Sora: i could never be more proud


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance regretted a lot of things in his life. This though? He’s never regretted something so terribly much. He regretted every moment, decision, and thought process that led up to this moment.

Lance regretted a lot of things in his life. He regretted that time he put a worm on his little sister's pillow and he got grounded for a month and had to help his dad garden (It took  _ months  _ to get the calluses off of his hands). He regretted how he once ran a red light, too busy texting on his phone, and got t-boned  _ completely  _ destroying his mom’s brand new car. He regretted accidentally flirting with some bodybuilders girlfriend when he was still in highschool and Hunk had to save him from getting his ass kicked  _ too  _ terribly **.** The list went on and on.

_ This  _ though? He’s never regretted something so terribly much. He regretted every moment, decision, and thought process that led up to this moment. 

“Hunk,  _ please _ , you can’t make me do this.” Begging. Lance McClain had been reduced to begging. On his knees with his arms clasped around his best friends legs he pleaded with him to understand his plight. He  _ had  _ to make him understand. Hunk couldn’t possibly make him do this, he just wanted to be spared.

Hunk shook his head, arms firmly crossed in front of his chest. He wiggled a leg out from Lance’s grasp to put it on his shoulder and push him away. Lanced whined high in his throat, grasping desperately at his pant leg, but it was futile. He ended up sprawled on the floor.

“Nope,” Hunk said. “You promised me you’d come. Allura finished my design and I have an appointment to get it outlined today. I need you to hold my hand in case it hurts too bad.”

“But what if  _ Keith  _ is there!”

That was the biggest problem.  _ Keith.  _ The boy who Lance couldn’t help but pick a fight with when he saw him and had plagued every wet dream he had since they had met. He was the last person he wanted to see. Keith, with his stupid perfect ass and his ridiculously cute hair and dumb perfect eyes and he  _ hated  _ him. In fact, if they never met ever again Lance thought he’d be absolutely perfect with that (he wouldn’t). 

“The Lance McClain I know never breaks his promises.”

That’s how he ended up walking back into  _ The Paladins _ , hands shoved in his jacket pockets and making sure to make it known to everyone that looked at him that he was grumpy and did not want to be there. It was empty, but that was to be expected for a Sunday. Unfortunately, since it was empty there was no customers for Lance to glare at.

A few steps into the shop though and he froze in his spots. Okay, this was fine. This was worth it. A pretty girl stood behind the counter, flipping through some paperwork. Silver hair fell in cascades over her dark brown shoulders, and beautiful blue eyes lifting up to look at them. A white tank top hung loosely over her thin frame, showing tattoos of stars, constellations, and planets on her left arm. 

_ ‘She looks like a princess.’  _ Lance thought. He quickly wiped off his grumpy expression to put on his usual smirk. No use being grumpy around a pretty lady, not when he could be putting the moves on her.

“Hunk!” She greeted, smiling and waving a dainty hand. “Glad you’re here! Keith and I just finished setting up the station.”

Lance’s smirk fell at the mention of that name, and he looked around the store for him. He found him cleaning the piercing tables, bandana over his mouth as he sprayed them with disinfectant and wiped them down. He was wearing another long sleeve shirt, one that hugged his body and Lance couldn’t even fool himself into thinking that he wasn’t checking out his arms. They weren’t nearly as big as Shiro’s, but they were still well defined and Lance  _ really  _ wanted them wrapped around his waist.

He scowled and turned away, shaking the thought from his head. The pretty lady at the counter deserved his attention way more then Keith ever could. He took a step closer to her, leaning his elbow on the counter, and smirking again.

“So,” Lance began. “You, uh, come here often?”

_ Smooth. _

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, “I work here?”

Hunk clapped his hands loudly, shooting Lance an annoyed look. “I know you already emailed me the design but can I look it over again?”

Pretty lady turned a grin to him, “Of course! Let me grab it super quick.”

When she disappeared into the backroom Hunk turned to Lance. “That was the worst pick up line I’ve heard come out of your mouth.”

“I thought it was good,” Lance mumbled.

“I wouldn’t waste your time.”

Lanced jumped, whirling around to see Keith. He had a hand resting on his cocked hip and even behind the bandana Lance could tell he was smirking obnoxiously. He narrowed his eyes at him, annoyed. 

Keith reached up and pulled the bandana down from his face, “She wouldn’t give you the time of day.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Lance shouted, more than a little offended.

Keith sighed, as if dealing with a petulant child and Lance only bristled at that. “It means-.”

“Got it!” Pretty lady shouted, interrupting Keith before he could continue. She ran out of the room and spread the design on the counter in front of them.

Lance had to admit it looked pretty fucking awesome. Hunk had gone with the state flower idea, a hibiscus sitting in the middle with a cool tribal design stretching out from it. His best friend’s eyes beamed as he gazed on it in the same way he looked down at the food he made. Lance didn’t feel so grumpy about coming anymore seeing the way he looked at the design and was more than a little excited to see it on his skin.

“We’ll just do the outline today,” Pretty lady said. “The stations all set up for it, all we have to do is get you prepped. You still want it on your upper arm?”

“Yep!”

“Fantastic,” Pretty Lady dug around beneath the counter for a bit before pulling out some papers and a pen. “I just need to see your ID and have you fill out these papers and we can get started.”

Lance walked his fingers across the table, desperate to get her attention and to get his own away from the cute boy currently wiping down the windows. “What’s a pretty lady like you doing in a town like this?”

She didn’t even glance at him, and Lance felt himself deflate a little. “Making a living like everyone else.”

“When’s your next break? I was thinking I could -.”

“Princess!” Keith called out. “Put windex on the shopping list, we just ran out.”

Princess? He had a  _ pet name  _ for her?! Lance turned to glare at him, watching as he chucked an empty spray bottle into the trash before tugging his bandana down from over his face.

“As I was saying,” Lance continued, turning back around. He let out an indignant squawk to see that Pretty Lady and Hunk had already moved across the room to one of the tattoo stations.

“Lance, you coming buddy?” Hunk asked.

Lanced shoved his hands in his jacket pockets, feeling a bit embarrassed and a lot ignored, and walked on over.

“Keith, be a dear and help me out,” Pretty Lady called out. “Can you get Hunk’s friend a chair to sit on?”

“Name’s Lance,” confidence may have been running a little low, but the smirk on his face didn’t waver.

“Lance,” Pretty Lady repeated. “My name’s -.”

Keith setting a chair down next to Lance stopped what she was going to say as she turned her attention to him. “Thank you! Can you help me place this stencil?”

Cutie ( _ stop calling him that!)  _ nodded and walked over beside her, gingerly picking up the stencil as he waited for her to tell him what to do.

_ ‘That’s okay, I can figure out her name later.’  _ Lance thought. 

“Does right here work for you?” she asked, motioning towards a spot on Hunk’s arm.

“Maybe a little lower?” Hunk made it sound more like a question, and Lance realized then how nervous he actually was. He reached out to pat his shoulder to hopefully calm him a bit.

“Here?” Keith asked.

“Yes!” Hunk nodded vigorously. 

“So,” Lance tried again, leaving a hand on his best friend’s shoulder. “When do you get off of work? I’d love to take a pretty -.”

“Allura! Keith! I’m back!”

Lance scowled, looking towards the door to see Shiro walking in. He made a beeline to the pretty lady, kissing her smack on the mouth when he reached her. “Coran has the flu so I had to drop Jaimee off at my parents.”

“That’s fine, love.”

Lance gawked at both of them.  _ This  _ was Allura? 

Fuck, he can’t very well keep trying to hit on her knowing she had Shiro. How was he supposed to keep his mind off of Keith, now? He looked over to him to see him with his hand on his mouth to try and stifle a laugh. He flushed dark, curling in on himself. He wasn’t new to making a fool out of himself, but he was feeling really stupid now. Of  _ course  _ this was Allura. 

“So what were you saying?” she asked, looking back to him.

“Nothing,” he mumbled, refusing to look her in the eyes. 

Keith snorted loudly, and Lance sunk lower in his seat feeling absolutely defeated.

By the time the outline of Hunk’s tattoo was done Lance decided he never wanted to come back to that shop ever again. Without Allura to try and make a move on all he had left to do was check out Keith. He had that stupid handkerchief back on his face as he continued cleaning up the shop and it shouldn’t have been as cute as it was. He didn’t take off those stupid fingerless gloves, even when he was cleaning which was so incredibly stupid and endearing. The skinny jeans he was wearing were particularly tight that day, which meant his ass was killing Lance slowly. It was only  Hunk’s hand gripping painfully on his that kept him from reaching out to touch his butt when he walked by. Lance was losing his mind bit by bit.

The door slammed open and a familiar voice shouted out: “Hello assholes!”

They all looked over to see Pidge and their brother Matt walking through the door. Lance couldn’t remember the last time he saw him, probably before his mother’s funeral. His hair had gotten longer, shaggier, and if possible more orange. Pidge immediately skipped over to them, watching as Allura put a wrap on Hunk’s skin.

“That’s amazing,” they said. “You really did an awesome job Allura!”

She grinned at them, “It’s going to look even better when it’s finished.”

“You guys are closing up shop soon right?” Matt asked, jumping to sit on the counter. Shiro pushed him off in response sending him crumpling to the floor.

“As soon as Lance and Hunk leave, yeah,” Keith told him, reaching out a hand to help him up. 

“Trying to get rid of us?” Lance asked.

Keith just ignored him, and Lance scowled. 

Matt looked between the two of them, whistling softly, before perking up again. “Well we should all go to dinner! We haven’t had a proper night out since Shiro and Allura spawned a bouncing baby brat.”

“I don’t know, Matt,” Allura started. She looked over to Shiro, and they seemed to have a conversation between the five seconds they stared at each other before she looked back to Pidge’s brother. “We’ll have to pick up Jaimee if we’re going to go out and eat.”

Matt just waved a hand at that. “No problem, princess. I love that little gremlin.”

Pidge turned to Lance and Hunk then. “You two are coming with, and I trust you not to make a scene?”

They aimed that question at Lance, staring him down as much as someone barely five foot can manage. He scoffed. Since when has he ever made a scene?

He decided not to voice that question out loud. He had enough embarrassment for one day.

“Awesome, there’s this mexican restaurant my coworker has been raving about that’s supposed to have amazing food. It’s called  _ Segobiano’s _ .”

Hunk looked at Lance with an eyebrow raised, and Pidge snickered. He folded in on himself a little and scowled. He worked there, the last thing he wanted to do was go there on his own spare time. However seeing everyone else nod excitedly he couldn’t bring himself to voice a complaint. Maybe he could get out of going?

“I know what you’re thinking,” Pidge whispered menacingly as they slid up next to him. “You’re not weaseling your way out of this one.”

Lance deflated even more.

_ ‘Please tell me Josie isn’t working tonight, please, please, please,’  _ he pleaded silently.

Luck, as it would have it, was not on his side. The moment they all walked into the restaurant, Allura with a baby girl on her hip, Josie shrieked out. “ _ Conejito!  _ You didn’t tell me you had friends!”

Lance winced, forcing a smile on his face as she came up to greet him. She pulled him into a hug, kissing both of his cheeks, before tugging on his ear.

“What are you doing here on your day off?” she scolded. “You should be at home studying!”

“ _ Lo siento _ !” Lance called out, wincing as she tugged harder on his ear. “ _ Por favor!  _ _ Me estás avergonzando _ .”

“ _ No seas un bebe _ ,” she replied, tugging harder on his ear. She turned to the hostess, a girl who had just started working here a week prior. Jessica was it? Lance couldn’t remember, though he figured he probably should. Next shift he’d take the time to learn her name properly. “I’ll take these troublemakers.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” she said. She turned to Lance, “How many of there are you?”

“There’s eight of us,” Shiro told her before Lance could even begin to count. 

“Josie,” Lance said softly. “Can you let go of my ear, please?”

She did so, but not before giving it another painful yank. “I’ll be with you all in a moment.”

Josie walked off, checking in on one of her tables before walking back into the kitchen. Lance watched her leave thankful that she hadn’t caused more ruckus. He knew her well though, and he was terrified at what the night had in store. 

“You didn’t mention you worked here,” Matt said. 

Lance didn’t answer him, just rubbed his now sore ear as they followed the hostess. He helped her pull a couple tables together before everyone sat down. He managed to sit across from Hunk and Pidge, but unfortunately that stuck him with Keith on his right side. He turned away from him slightly to smile at the baby to his left and let her play with his fingers. Josie came by with a pitcher of water, filling up their glasses. 

“Who are your friends,  _ conejito? _ ” She asked, putting her hands on her hips.

Friend’s? He barely knew most of them, despised (adored) one of them, so he wouldn’t go so far as to call them friends. Allura and Shiro’s baby cooed next to him, reaching out for him and pawing at his jacket. 

“I’m Hunk,” his best friend started, and Lance sent him a grateful look. “That’s Pidge and their brother Matt.”

Shiro took that moment to introduce the rest of them, “I’m Shiro, that’s my wife Allura and our daughter Jaimee, and then my brother Keith.”

Lance tilted a head at that, staring at the two of them and trying to find some sort of resemblance. The eyes maybe? They were obviously both asian, but Lance wasn’t stupid enough to just assume they were of the same region. The more he looked at them actually, the more they looked different.

Josie’s eyes narrowed at the mention of Keith, and Lance sunk a little in his seat begging her not to mention anything. He got lucky. Instead of taking the chance to embarrass him she cooed at the baby softly, “Well aren’t you just a pretty little thing. You must get it from your mama.”

She took their order for their drinks then before disappearing. 

“So,” Shiro started, looking at Lance. “What do you do here?”

“Wait tables,” Lance mumbled, most of his attention still on the baby. She was kicking in her highchair now, grabbing at his jacket even more. She did look a lot like Allura, the same dark complexion, bright blue eyes - though they were shaped more like Shiro’s then hers - and a mop of dark hair. Her cheeks were chubby as expected of a six month old, and Lance figured she was probably due for a growth spurt judging by all the fat rolls she had. That or she was just a chubby baby. Either way, she was cute.

“I think she likes you,” Allura said, smiling. “You can hold her if you want.”

It wasn’t like he really had a choice, not with Jaimee cooing at him and reaching out. She’d manage to worm her way out of the seat and onto him if he let her continue as she was. He carefully lifted her out of her chair and then sat her on his lap letting her slap her hands on the table for a moment before chewing on the sleeve of his jacket.

Lance looked over at Keith to see him eyeing the baby like she was some sort of alien. “Got a problem with the baby?”

Keith blinked at him. “How do you do that?”

“Do what?” Lance asked furrowing his eyebrows.

“She always starts screaming when I hold her!”

“Maybe she can sense the jerk in you,” Lance snickered. 

“That or she senses the pushover in you,” Hunk but in. 

Keith snorted at that. Lance chose to ignore him in favor of bouncing the child in his lap, listening to her giggle. She reached for his silverware and he hurriedly moved them out of the way, giving her the cloth napkin instead which she immediately shoved in her mouth. 

“Being a pushover is okay,” he whispered to Jaimee. “As long as you’re not a butthole.”

Baby Jaimee just gurgled.

“So you speak spanish?” Allura asked.

Lance nodded, “Parents immigrated from Cuba, and neither of them knew English well so it was the language of the household.”

Josie came by with their drinks. As she put Keith’s down she gave Lance a wink and after he made sure the baby wasn’t looking he flipped her the bird. She cuffed him on the back of the head for that.

“Where are your manners,” she scolded him before turning to the rest of them “Have you had enough time to look at our menu?”

Lance put Jaimee back into her high chair as everyone else rattled off their order. When it came to him she just asked, “The usual?”

“Yep!” He grinned. “Just make sure Edward doesn’t skimp out on the cheese like last time.”

“Gotcha,” she scribbled it down on her notepad before turning to Keith. “And you dear?”

Keith sunk into the chair, staring at the menu with a look of trepidation. “Um…”

“Keith’s never actually had mexican food before,” Shiro said, “Do you have any recommendations, Josie?”

Lance’s eyes widened and he turned over in his seat, looking at Keith incredulously. “Never?”

Keith melted further into the chair and mumbled, “No.”

“Not even Taco Bell?”

Keith shook his head, sinking lower into his seat. 

“How do you live in America and not have some sort of Mexican food,” Lance waved a hand at Josie, “I got this.”

He tugged the menu out from Keith’s hands, despite his embarrassed sputtering, flattening it in front of the both of them. “Are you allergic to anything?”

Keith stared at him dumbly before shaking his head slowly. 

“Anything you absolutely won’t eat?”

“... Mushrooms?”

Fair enough, Lance figured. Mushrooms were disgusting. “We do have our signature Segobiano’s Feast that it super good, especially because there's a bit a variety! It comes with two tacos, an enchilada, and a couple of flautas with a side of rice and beans.”

Keith looked a little panicked. “I can’t eat all of that?”

Lance waved a hand at that, “There’s this nifty thing called a take out box.”

Keith blushed and Lance felt himself struck dumb.  _ Shit.  _ He was cute being his normal grumpy self, but looking more than a little flustered he was downright adorable. 

_ No!  _ Lance leaned away from him quickly. He did not just call him adorable. He  _ refused.  _ He looked at Josie, “Grumpy will get that.”

Keith’s eyebrows shot up. “Grumpy?”

“I have some pretty colorful phrases I could call you, but Josie would hit me.”

“Someone has to make sure you watch your mouth,  _ conejito, _ ” Josie responded. 

It was quiet for a moment before Matt spoke up, “So Lance, how’s college? Heard you skipped a couple of days?”

Lance glared at Pidge, who just looked away and whistled. “It’s college Matt, it sucks.”

“What are you studying?” Shiro asked.

Lance straightened up in his chair a bit, “Communications.”

Matt scrunched up his nose, “No wonder you think college sucks. I thought you were going to get your major in the arts?”

“Not much you can do with a fine arts degree,” Lance said shrugging. “Communications seemed… solid?”

He was quickly starting to regret his decision though. Some days he found he’d rather drive Rosalina until she ran out of gas and see where he ended up. Get lost, become a nomad maybe. Who needed college anyways?

He could almost hear his mom scolding him from heaven.

Shiro looked over to Pidge and Hunk, “Are you going to school with him?”

Pidge shook her head, “I’m going to the Science Institute with my brother by main street, working on my bachelors in astrophysics.”

“I’m going to the same school as Lance,” Hunk piped in. “Working on an engineering degree with a minor in culinary arts.”

“That’s fascinating,” Allura said leaning on her hands. “Shiro went to that very same school Pidge. He dropped out after we had the baby, though.”

Pidge nodded, “I know. Matt would never shut up about how all the teachers loved Shiro but hated him.”

“I was a perfectly good student!” Matt exclaimed.

“Didn’t you put superglue on some professor's chair?” Shiro asked.

“Mr. Sendak deserved it,” Matt grumbled.

“How did you and Shiro meet,” Lance asked Allura. Despite being in his own restaurant he was feeling completely out of his depth and a little out of place. He was good at making friends though and he was determined to.

“Canvas Effect,” Allura smiled sweetly at him. “We made plans to go to the same college and met there. Got married soon after we found out I was pregnant.”

Jaimee cooed at that, as if sensing they were talking about her. 

Lance perked up when they mentioned the Canvas Effect. Finally, something he could talk about. “Really? You guys too?”

Shiro cocked his head, “You experience it, too?”

Lance nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah! Only my soulmate is a jerk so we haven’t met up.”

Keith scowled beside him, “Yeah, that happens.”

“I have a question, if you don’t mind.” Hunk spoke up.

Allura nodded for him to continue.

“If you get a tattoo does it show up on your soulmate too? If someone else draws on you does it show up? Lance has been absolutely no help and the questions keep piling up in my head-.”

Pidge elbowed hunk in the ribs, “Slow down.”

“Sorry,” Hunk said sheepishly.

“It’s quite all right,” Allura promised. “Tattoos do not show up on your soulmate, thank goodness. Shiro and I have very different ideas of what kind of ink we put on our bodies. And for it to show up on Shiro I have to be the one drawing on myself. Jaimee likes to color on my stomach and it doesn’t transfer.”

The food came then, interrupting Hunk’s questioning. He quieted almost immediately and started spooning rice into his mouth as fast as he could. Allura scooped a bit of beans onto her spoon, blowing it off to cool it before feeding it to Jaimee. As everyone started eating Lance looked over to see Keith staring at his plate wearily.

“It’s not going to bite you,” Lance told him.

Keith scowled and grabbed one of the tacos, mumbling a quick, “Shut up.”

“Try the flautas next,” Lance said, cutting into his own chimichanga. “Those are really good.”

Keith chewed on his bite of taco slowly before reaching for one of the flautas. He grabbed it gingerly, staring at it for a moment before taking a bite. 

“Good?” Lance asked.

Keith stared at the food in his hand, before taking another wary bite and nodding.

Lance beamed, “Told you!”

From the other side of the restaurant, Josie sent him a thumbs up. He chose to pretend he didn’t notice and took a bite of his food. 

After everyone had finished eating they all exchanged numbers before parting ways. Lance let Hunk drive home, thumbing his phone as he stared at Keith’s contact. He debated deleting it, very nearly pressed the delete contact button, before he sighed and pocketed his phone. It wouldn’t matter anyways, not like he would really ever call or text him. 

His phone buzzed in his pocket and he hurriedly pulled it out. An irrational part of his mind hoped it was Keith texting him, though he knew they didn’t know each other well enough to text and whenever they talked they seemed to fight. Josie’s name flashed on the screen,  a series of thumbs up emojis. Another text came from her soon afterward.

_ Josie: He does have a nice ass. _

Lance nearly chucked his phone out the window.    
  
  


 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took forever!
> 
> BTW come visit me at neadevar.tumblr.com! We can talk about klance and cry over my boy Lance or you can just send me headcanons and I can die.
> 
> Also my beta Sora has a really awesome klance story (that I'm gonna kick her to update) called Lovebug that you should check out here http://archiveofourown.org/works/8769601/chapters/20101864
> 
> Translations -
> 
> Lo siento! Por favor! Me estás avergonzando. - I’m sorry! Please! You are embarrassing me.
> 
> No seas un bebe. - Don’t be a baby.
> 
> If my spanish is ever (inevitably) off please let me know I would appreciate it so much


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two beers, seven shots of whisky, and a glass of wine later Lance found himself well and truly wrecked.

Lance decided that life was out to get him, to fuck him over the desk of despair and leave him unsatisfied. It was like in the past year nothing in his life was going right. Okay, cool, he got a belly button piercing and that was awesome and all but it didn’t change the fact that his life was becoming a downwards spiral and he was powerless to stop it. He was  _ tired.  _

“Val,” He said into his cellphone. His voice was shaky but his hands shook more as he gripped the opened envelope.  _ The  _ envelope. The one he told his sisters multiple times when he was down for his mother’s funeral that he did not want and would not accept. “What the hell is this?”

It took his sister Valeria a moment before she responded, and when she did it was wary. “I’m not quite sure what you’re talking about.”

“ _ This! _ ” Lance all but spat as he threw the envelope on his floor. “This… check. The letter you and Mia wrote me.”

He heard his sister sigh. “It’s mom’s inheritance. We split it up among us kids and dad. That’s your part.”

“I don’t want this.” Lance could feel tears welling up in his eyes. “I’m sending it back.”

“Don’t you dare, Lance.” Valeria told him, voice growing cold. “Mom wouldn’t want that. Use it for college, for your art supplies, hell even for parties you’d like to throw. If I find that check in my mail though I will personally come down to kick your scrawny ass.”

Lance fell on his bed, curling his knees up to chest. This was it. This made it  _ real.  _ The funeral was supposed to give him some closure, but it still seemed like if he didn’t think about it she was still at home making salsa and complaining about Mia’s new boyfriend. The check though. His…  _ inheritance.  _ That cemented everything. Mom was gone and she wasn’t coming back and how was Lance supposed to  _ deal  _ with that.

He couldn’t.

He didn’t want to.

“I don’t want this,” Lance repeated, voice thick.

“Maybe,” Valeria didn’t speak for a moment. “Maybe I should come down. It’s only an eight hour drive. We can hang out, you can talk to me like you used to again.”

“Val, I’m  _ fine. _ ”

“Don’t. You’re not, and that’s okay. I’m not over mom’s death either.”

Lance heard rustling on the other side of the line. He hadn’t seen her since the funeral and honestly he missed her like crazy. She was his favourite sister, the one that always bailed him out of trouble and picked him up from parties when he was too drunk to talk straight. She had a life though. A husband and a job and she couldn’t just come see him on a whim. He argued back lamely, “You have work.”

“I’m already packing my bags,” his sister said. “The boss will understand. I’ll see you tonight, okay?”

“Okay,” He told her, squeezing his eyes shut. “Okay.”

“Love you.”

“Love you too, Val.”

Lance hung up then, staring at his phone for a moment before pocketing it. He picked up the check on his floor and shoved it under his bed as far as he could get it. Out of sight, out of mind, and he could keep pretending.

“Don’t you have school?” Pidge asked from his doorframe. They crunched noisily on some chips and crinkled the empty bag in their hand, tossing it at him.

Lance dodged the flying litter and walked over to his closet then to grab a new shirt. “Yeah, I’m getting ready right now. Val’s gonna be here tonight by the way.”

Pidge’s eyes lit up. “How long is she staying?”

He shrugged. “I’m not sure.”

“I’ll tell Hunk,” They said. “Have fun at class.”

“Yeah,” Lance said as he pulled his shirt over his head. “I’ll try.”

  
  
  


By the time Lance’s classes were over and done with he was in an even worse mood. He had gotten a D on his last essay which really didn’t do anything good for his current grade in that class, and Ms. Haggar had decided to use his last semester project as a “what not to do” lecture. She was always out to get him and if it weren’t so late in the semester he’d have dropped that class. He was at his wits end and he wanted nothing but to drown his misery in vodka. 

Determined to do just that, he stopped at the liquor store and bought a bottle of decent vodka, a case of beer, and some barefoot wine for his sister. He figured if he was going to get shitfaced he might as well get something nice for Val. He stopped by the quickie mart closest to his place too to purchase a thing of cigarettes as well. 

‘ _ So much for just being a social smoker _ ,’ he thought as he lit one on the way home. ‘ _ If mom were here she’d smack me _ .’

Shit, he was becoming a huge downer. How anyone could stand being around his insufferable ass was a mystery to him. Lance rolled down his windows further to let his car air out a bit. When he ended up stuck at a red light he grabbed his FM transmitter and plugged his phone in it. NSYNC blasted through his speakers and he turned his bass down lower, singing loud and obnoxious to boost his own spirits before he got home. There was no way he was going to see his sister in a shitty mood. He refused. 

When he got home there was another car parked in his spot. Val’s. He parked beside her vehicle and climbed out, alcohol in hand and another cig in his mouth. When he opened the door to his apartment a pair of arms were immediately thrown around him, almost burning themselves on Lance’s cigarette and making him nearly drop the alcohol in shock.

Valeria pulled away with a grin on her face. When she saw what was hanging out of Lance’s mouth she scowled, plucking it from his lips and crushing it beneath the sole of her boot. 

“What the fuck,” Val cursed, grabbing Lance by his ear. “Do you know how unhealthy those are for you,  _ pendejo _ ?”

“Val,” Lance whined. “Please, that hurts.”

“You know what else hurts? Lung cancer. Get your ass inside. ”

When he was inside he finally had a chance to actually look at his sister. She was skinnier then when he last saw her, a pair of sweats clinging to tiny hips and a black crop top with the words “Bad Bitch” written in pink cursive on the front. Her unruly brown hair was pulled into a mess of a bun at the bad of her head, loose curls hanging around her face. She practically looked like his twin. Blue eyes sparkled as she held him at arm’s length before she pulled him into another hug.

“I missed you,” Val told him. “Hunk was just telling me about his tattoo and Pidge was showing me her piercing. I wanna see yours!”

Lance grinned as she pulled away,  lifting up the edge of his shirt to show her the metal decorating his belly button. She smiled back at him, reaching out to touch it gently, before cuffing him on the side of the head.

“What was that for?” Lance asked bewildered.

“How in the world did you manage to afford that with your part time job and college?” She demanded.

“I made a little extra over the holidays,” he told her. “Figured I should spoil myself.”

She huffed. “Fine. What do you have in the bags?”

Lance smiled and ruffled them, “Some beer, some vodka,” he pulled out the wine and presented it to her. “A present for my favourite sister.”

She took it, reaching out with her other hand to ruffle his hair. “Don’t think I don’t realize that you’re trying to sweeten me up.”

“What? Me?” Lance put a hand to his chest and feigned offense. “Never!”

She walked away and towards the kitchen. “I’ll grab some wine and shot glasses, let’s get shitfaced.”

Lance was reminded once again how much he had missed her. She truly was his favourite sister. He walked into the living room and plopped his ass beside Hunk, shuffling so he was leaning against him. The alcohol rested safely on his stomach.

“How was class?” Lance asked him.

“Boring, we didn’t do a whole lot today.” Hunk told him. “I had a lab tomorrow though so that will be awesome.”

“What about you,” Pidge asked from their spot in front of the TV. They were playing Overwatch currently and kicking ass like they usually did.

Lance scowled. “Stupid. Haggar is a witch, looks like one too.”

Valeria walked into the living room then, placing the glasses on the coffee table. “Keegan says hi, by the way!”

Ah, Lance missed Keegan. He was his first boy crush and neighbor growing up. Sadly, he was straighter than straight and had started dating Val about a year after they graduated. Lance couldn’t be too sour about it though, not when they were terribly cute together on their wedding day. 

Lance sat up and poured everyone shots of vodka. “I’m ready to embrace death, let’s do this.”

Hunk snorted and grabbed one of the shot glasses, Pidge letting themselves die so they could grab one quickly, and Valeria took one with a slight grimace. Lance grinned himself, remembering how much she hated vodka, before knocking his own back. He welcomed the burn in the back of his throat and shook his head slightly.

Two beers, seven shots of whisky, and a glass of wine later Lance found himself well and truly wrecked. Sometime during the night he and Val had traded shirts. Her reasoning was that it would show off his belly button piercing better. He just wanted to wear something that said ‘Bad Bitch’ on it. Pidge had passed out earlier, not holding their alcohol well at all, and Hunk was currently humming something that was probably a song but sounded nothing like one while he laid on the floor. Valeria was all giggles and grins, cuss words becoming a second language to her by the time she finished off her wine and started on the vodka. 

“Gimme yer fuckin’ phone,” She slurred, reaching out for Lance and patting his pockets. “I’m g’nna text Keegan.”

Lance raised an eyebrow at her when she mentioned her husband and raised the bottle of vodka to his lips, having ditched shot glasses about an hour ago. “Why not use yers?”

“Dead,” She pouted. “Wanna take pictures ‘nd send em to him.”

Lance sighed and pulled out his phone, handing it to her. Valeria pulled up the camera and snapped a few photos of Hunk and Pidge, took a selfie of herself, and then pointed it to Lance.

“Smile,” she grinned.

Lance didn’t smile, instead he raised his middle finger up to his lips and stuck his tongue out a little to make it look like he was licking it, giving the camera the most seductive look he could manage in his drunken state. Val giggled and snapped the picture before crawling closer to him and leaning against him. They took a few selfies together, each one worse than the last.

“You still ‘ave his number right?” She asked as she scrolled through his phone.

“Yep,” Lance answered. “Under ‘is name.”

Valeria sent the pictures off with a grin. “I really missed ya, ya know?”

Lance closed his eyes and wiggled himself further into the couch. “Missed ya too.”

When Lance woke up the next morning it was too a small headache making itself known and the taste of stale alcohol on his breath. He grimaced and pried his eyes open finding that he was still on the couch with Valeria curled up on him. Hunk was still laying on the ground but it looked like some time during the night Pidge had crawled onto the floor to sleep beside him. 

Lance patted around himself to find his phone so he could check on the time, only finding it under his ass when he shifted and felt it dig into him. He pulled it out and squinted at the bright screen only to raise his eyebrows in surprise.

Five unread messages from Keith.

He unlocked his phone wondering why the fuck Keith would have texted him at all, opening up his messages to take a look. A distant part of himself was actually kind of excited that he had texted him. Looking at the messages though he was just confused.

_ Keith: What the fuck _

_ Keith: Seriously though, why did you send me these pictures? _

_ Keith: I just saw the vodka in your hand, you must have been damn drunk to send these pictures to me of all people _

_ Keith: That or you sent me these pictures on accident??? _

_ Keith: I’m going to pretend that’s what you did because that makes more sense. Bye “Bad Bitch”. _

Lance stared at his phone confused for a moment more, before he scrolled up to see all the photos Val had taken. Most of them were fairly unflattering. Staring at them though he had to admit he did look good in a crop top. That was something he would have to add to his wardrobe. Maybe Valeria would leave some of hers with him.

Then it dawned on him that Val had accidentally sent those pictures to  _ Keith  _ and he pushed her off of him and to the floor. She landed with a confused squawk. 

“Lance?” She mumbled, looking up at him questioning. “What the hell?”

“You didn’t send the photos to Keegan,” Lance glared at her. “You sent them to  _ Keith. _ ”

Val furrowed her eyebrows. “Who?”

“The guy he likes,” Hunk said, finally stirring from the floor.

“I do not!” Lance cried out, feeling betrayed. “What makes you think that?”

“Lance,” Hunk gave him a look. “I know you. Now if you don’t mind I’m going to go make a pot of coffee.”

He flushed red at what his best friend said, pressing his hands to his face with a groan.

“Grab me some painkillers,” Val told him, pressing a hand to her head.

“I’ll grab everyone some,” Hunk promised as he disappeared into the kitchen.

As soon as he was gone Lance’s sister gave him a devilishly  pleased look. “So,  _ Keith  _ huh?”

“Shut up,” He groaned, leaning back into the couch. “I do  _ not  _ like him. He’s an ass.”

“He’s an ass, or he has a nice ass?” Val asked.

“You’re impossible!”

Valeria winced, “Don’t yell. I’m not as young as I used to be and my hangovers are getting increasingly worse to deal with.”

Lance glanced at the phone in his hand. “What am I supposed to say?”

His sister got up from the ground and stretched her arms above her head. “Tell him your drunk as fuck sister meant for those to go to her husband, not you.”

“It’s not that simple!” Lance cried.

“Fuck, quiet down,” she swayed on her feet for a moment before glaring at him. “It is that simple.”

Lance groaned and started typing out a response to Keith, erasing and retyping and erasing and retyping multiple times before he was somewhat content with what he had written and sent it.

_ Lance: My sis meant for those to go 2 her husband, not ur boring ass. _

Good. That was good. Was that good?

His phone buzzed almost immediately afterward making him jump. He fumbled with his phone  _ hating  _ how his heart jumped at the thought of texting Keith. It was  _ Keith!  _ Sure he was cute and Lance could go on about his ass for days but it was  _ Keith.  _ He was still an ass and Lance’s body should not be reacting like this. He chewed on his lip as he answered read the texts.

_ Keith: ??? _

_ Keith: Whatever. Nice shirt, Bad Bitch. _

Lance prayed to whatever god was listening that Keith wouldn’t make that a thing.

“Can I have my shirt back?” Val asked.

Lance couldn’t get it off of himself fast enough. He tossed it at her face and she glared at him for a moment before taking off her own shirt to hand to him. Hunk came back into the room with painkillers and glasses of water for everyone and Lance took his gratefully. 

“What did Keith say?” Hunk asked him as he sat beside him.

Lance groaned and ran a hand down his face, handing his phone over to Hunk so he could read the messages. He watched through his fingers as Hunk scrolled through and laughed. 

“Mind if I send these pictures to myself?” Hunk asked. “I love all of these.”

“Go for it,” Lance told him.

“So,” Val started, sitting on the armrest of the couch on the other side of Lance. “Tell me about Keith.”

Lance grew even redder. “There’s nothing to say!”

“He met him when he got his bellybutton pierced,” Hunk explained as he handed Lance his phone back. “He’s been hopeless since then, picking fights with the kid when nearly everyone can see how much he’s crushing.”

“What the fuck!” Lance exclaimed.

“Is he your soulmate?” Val asked, suddenly serious.

As if on cue, Lance felt a tickling sensation on his arm. He glared down as a design started showing up beneath his wrist and he shook his hand angrily. 

Hunk sighed, “I’ll go grab a pen.”

Val Leaned in to watch the design being drawn. “So, is he?”

“No,” Lance all but shouted. “They might both be assholes but they’re not the same person.”

“You know,” Val grabbed his wrist to watch more closely. “You can still date even if you have a soulmate. I know you think you're technically taken but that's really not true. You might be spoken for in the grand scheme of things but you can still go out and live a little.”

Lance snatched his wrist back at that. “I can’t. It feels wrong. Sure a little harmless flirting is fun but to actually date someone else doesn’t feel right.”

His sister ruffled his hair. “You’re too sweet, you know that?”

Hunk walked back in then, tossing a pen at Lance. He quickly drew a crude dick on his arm and right on cue the design on his arm stopped showing up. He beamed, setting the pen down.

“You’re  _ still  _ doing that?” Val asked with a raised eyebrow. “I thought you would have grown out of that.”

“Never,” Lance told her with conviction. 

His phone buzzed again, and he stared down at his phone with a curious glance. Another text message from Keith. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as he opened the text.

_ Keith: What’s your work schedule for the week, Shiro want’s to know. _

_ Lance: Uh, y? _

Val looked over and nudged him slightly. “Who’s Shiro?”

“The guy who did my piercing,” Lance mumbled. His phone buzzed again and he tried not to look as excited as he felt over texting Keith.

_ Keith: He wants to come back to your restaurant, but only if you’re working then. _

Uh, okay. Lance typed out his schedule for the week and sent it off. Keith didn’t reply after that and he pocketed his phone. 

“Do you have class or work today?” Val asked him.

“No,” Lance told her.

“Fantastic,” she grinned. “That means I can drive you crazy all day long.”

Lance didn’t bother telling her that he had missed her so much that nothing she could do would bother him, only faked a groan and threw his head back against the couch. His phone buzzed and he pulled it out to check out the new message.

_ Keith: Thanks, Bad Bitch _

Lance chucked his phone across the room. That was  _ not  _ going to be a thing. He refused!

_ ‘This is all Val’s fault.’ _

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance is such a downer I'm sorry guys next chapter will be fun though!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> God I hope this doesnt feel rushed. This has all happened in the span of about a month but I stll worry

“You know what Lance, I really missed doing this with you.” Val sighed heavily, relaxed into the couch. The drying white face mask crinkled around the corners of her lips as she smiled softly. 

Lance hummed in agreement and let himself sink lower into the cushions. Skin care was never something he skipped out on unless he absolutely had no money for the preferred lotions and masks. Having Valeria to do it with him was a serious blast from the past of when they were little and smearing homemade ‘masks’ on their cheeks, his mom wondering where the hell the avocados went and why their was honey smeared all over the bathroom counter.

It made him miss home terribly, and for a moment he entertained the idea of dropping out of school and moving back to his home state. 

“How is this comfortable,” Pidge mumbled, a frown on their face. They touched their cheek before screwing up their face in obvious disgust. “My face feels tight.”

“That means it’s working,” Lance told them patiently.

Hunk peeked out from the kitchen, a face mask smeared on his skin too. He wiped his hands on his kitchen apron. “How long does this have to stay on? Dinner's almost ready.”

Lance opened an eye to peek at the timer on his phone. “Just a few more minutes.”

Pidge jumped up off the couch. “That’s good enough for me.”

Lance and Val watched them run to the bathroom, looking at each other a little exasperated when the water started running.

“Katie’s going to be covered in wrinkles by the time they’re thirty,” his sister said.

He sighed dramatically, “What a shame. We’ll be the only hot ones.”

Hunk shouted out from the kitchen that dinner was done, and Lance and Val begrudgingly made their way to the bathroom to wipe their faces. Dinner was a hit, as always, and Lance had just changed into his pajamas and was about to crawl into Hunk’s bed (Val stole his bed, the thief, so Lance had found himself a cuddle buddy/victim) when his sister asked from the doorway.

“Can I visit you at work?”

Lance frowned, the idea of Val meeting Josie more than slightly terrifying. Those two together would leave him a mess of embarrassment. He shot Hunk, who was currently trying to get some last minute studying in, a look of panic. His best friend ignored him though. He was on his own for this. Damn him and his upcoming tests.

“Uh.” Lance made an effort not to look at her, knowing the minute he did he would lose and tell her anything she wanted because he was weak. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Monday’s are my busiest days.”

It was a shitty lie and they both knew it.

He could practically hear the pout in Val’s voice when she spoke. “But I want to see where you work! Get some good food!”

“Maybe another day?” Lance suggested. It would give him enough time to look at the schedule and find a day where he and Josie weren’t working together. 

“But-.”

“Oh Hunk!” Lance exclaimed, glancing at his bare wrist as if checking a watch. “Look at the time! We have classes in the morning, better get to sleep.”

Hunk looked up from his textbook with a look of confusion. When he saw Lance’s face he quickly played along, shutting the book and crawling into the bed. “You’re right. Guess we better call it a day, huh buddy?”

Valeria sighed in defeat. “Fine. But I want to see you at work sometime before I leave.”

Lance didn’t respond, burrowing his face into Hunk’s chest and faking a snore.

  
  
  


Classes ended up being relatively okay. Haggar was only mean a little. His favourite professor, Thace, decided he really didn’t want to grade another essay and told them their assignment was to binge watch some new alien series that came out on Netflix. Easy day at college meant that when he got to work there was a smile on his face and a skip in his step. Unfortunately Josie wasn’t working, she called in sick, so Lance had nothing else to do but annoy his other coworkers. Everything was seemingly going well!

Until Keith and Shiro walked in that is.

Lance peered out from behind the door to the kitchen, watching them warily. Lunch break maybe? But why the hell would they come  _ here _ ? Their shop was kinda far and there were tons of restaurants near them. They didn’t have to come all the way out here just for a bite to eat. He didn’t like it one bit. If it were just Shiro, or maybe him and Allura, it would be fine he decided. _ Keith  _ though? That was trouble. This time Lance didn’t have Pidge or Hunk to focus his efforts on so he didn’t make a fool of himself in front of Keith. Without them he was sure to say or do something stupid. Like call his ass cute. Or touch it.

He watched with growing horror as the host led them to his area.

_ Fuck.  _

Lance had no choice but to go out there now. He grabbed a pitcher of cold water, put a bin of chips and some cups of salsa on a tray, before making his way out there. He hated every step he took and silently begged that they wouldn’t be here long. Or at least Keith. Shiro could stay as long as he wanted, he wasn’t an asshole or as terribly adorable.

He forced a smile on his face as he got to their table. “Hey guys! What brings you here?”

Keith currently had his nose buried in the menu, so Shiro decided to answer for them. “Lunch break, we really liked this place the last time we went so we decided to go again.”

As Lance finished filling their glasses he asked, “Where’s Allura?”

“She’s home with the baby,” Shiro said, grabbing his cup and taking a sip. Keith had yet to even acknowledge Lance and he wasn’t sure if he was grateful or slightly miffed. 

“What can I get you guys to drink?” Lance pointedly refused to look at Keith.

“I’ll have a corona,” Shiro said.

Keith finally looked up at Lance, a gleam in his eye that made him a little more than nervous. “I’ll have a chocolate shake and a mountain dew.”

If there was one thing Lance hated more than he hated Keith, it was when customers ordered shakes. The cooks didn’t bother with them, which meant the servers had to make them, and they took forever and it was such a pain in the ass and Lance wanted to hit Keith with his notepad and tell him no.

Instead he took a deep breath and nodded. “Alright, any appetizers?”

At the same time Shiro said, “No, we’re fine,” Keith interrupted, apparently not getting the memo. As he talked Lance began to realize he was making an effort to make his job even worse. Taunting him.

“The quesadilla,” Keith started, and Lance had to hold back a cringe at the improper pronunciation. It was dee-a, not dilla, and he forced himself to take another steadying breath. “Extra cheese, no onion.”

Shiro gave the boy a look, but either he didn’t notice or he was ignoring him. Either way Shiro was quickly becoming Lance’s favourite. At least he was being easy. 

The brunet forced a smile, “Anything else?”

“We’re good,” Shiro quickly said. He looked apologetic, and that only made Lance feel a little weary. 

When he brought the order to the cook he really started to wish Josie hadn’t called in sick. Even if she would have teased the ever loving fuck out of him he would have someone to complain to about Keith. He wanted to hide in the kitchen for a while, the cooks wouldn’t mind, but he had more tables to wait on and he  _ really  _ needed some nice tips so he wouldn’t have to take out such a huge student loan for his upcoming semester. They were beginning to pile up and Lance was really starting to feel the stress of how much he would owe when he got out. Scholarships and financial aid only got you so far.

With a heavy sigh Lance got Keith and Shiro their drinks and put on a chipper smile as he left the kitchen. As he placed the drinks down he said, “Your appetizer should be done soon. Are you ready to order?”

Shiro rattled off his order, thankfully simple. He half expected Keith to need help ordering like the last time, and was surprised when he started talking immediately after Shiro was done. “I’ll take what I had last time, extra sour cream and cheese on everything, no onions, and a side of that avocado stuff.”

“Guacamole,” Lance said blandly. 

“Yeah, that.”

Lance put a hand on his hip, “If you’re trying to be difficult today I hope you’re realizing you’re not fucking me over, but the cooks.”

Shiro sighed hard. “I tried to tell him.”

Keith looked a little embarrassed but he quickly covered it up. “Aren’t you supposed to be nice and not cuss at the customers?”

“You’re not a customer, you’re a brat,” Lance mumbled. “And if you don’t tip me I know where you work and I will come for you.”

Shiro laughed at that, pressing a hand to his mouth to try and stifle it. Lance relaxed a little at the sound of it glad he hadn’t pushed too far. 

Keith huffed and waved a hand at him, looking like a miffed kitten more than actually intimidating. “Where’s my milkshake?”

Lance sighed dramatically. “Where’s my please?”

“I’m gonna shove my foot up your ass.”

“Kinky.”

Keith glowered at him and blushed, Shiro was once again trying to smother his laughing. 

Lance smiled at the both of them, “Let me check on my other tables and then I’ll grab your milkshake.”

Tables checked, milkshake delivered, and appetizer on the table Lance was feeling relatively okay with serving the two of them. Granted Keith hadn’t stopped being an ass but Lance was finding that more fun than annoying at that point. Bickering with him was enjoyable and at one point he found himself excited to check on them to make sure they didn’t need anything and to get them refills on drinks. Everything was going smoothly.

Until his sister walked through the door as he was putting Keith and Shiro’s food on their table.

“Lance!” 

He froze, silently begging to all the gods he knew that the voice wasn’t who he thought it was. He couldn’t even bring himself to look as if that would make it true. When a pair of arms wrapped around him, though, he knew there was no god out there helping him. All he could do was silently thank Josie for calling in sick. While he might have missed ranting to her he was dreading the moment Val and her would ultimately meet.

“Thank god Pidge loves me,” Val mumbled into his back. She pulled away and spun Lance around. “This is such a cute restaurant! Can’t believe you didn’t want me to come.”

“The owner’s here,” Lance told her, feeling a little panicked. “If you don’t buy food you’re going to have to leave.”

“Who’s this?” Shiro asked curiously.

Lance froze, remembering that Keith and Shiro were still there. “Um… this is my sister Valeria.”

“Call me Val,” she said with a toothy grin. “Who are you?”

“Takashi Shiro,” he introduced, holding out his hand to shake hers. “This is my brother Keith. We’re friends of Lance.”

Val’s eyes glinted at the mention of Keith and Lance felt himself panic slightly. She raked her eyes over him, taking his nervous stance and averted eyes in.  _ Don’t say anything embarrassing please. _

His sister studied the two of them for a minute longer before saying, “You two don’t look anything alike.”

“I’m adopted,” Keith mumbled. He looked just as scared of Val as Lance was feeling.

Adopted? That made sense, Lance decided. Keith has a broody backstory to match his broody attitude. He was quite a bit curious about it but he knew his place and kept his mouth shut so he didn’t pry. 

Val took a seat beside Shiro and Lance wanted to hit her with his note pad for being so intrusive. “So you’re the one who did my brothers piercing?”

Shiro nodded. “I am.”

“It looks awesome.” She said. “Maybe I’ll have you pierce me while I’m here visiting. Mind if I join you two for lunch?” She shot a glare at Lance. “Someone wants to kick me out.”

_ Please say no. _

Shiro laughed a little. “I don’t mind at all.”

_ Fuck! _

“Fantastic.”

Val shoved a chip in her mouth and Lance sighed hard. “What can I get you to drink.”

“Margarita,” she told him. “You know how I like them.”

“Extra liqueur and lime slices,” Lance nodded. 

He watched as Val looked through the menu, having no other tables at the moment and tips weighing heavily in his apron. Her face wrinkled up. “What is all this? Mexican inspired white people food?”

Lance let out a laugh, “A lot of it tastes relatively authentic, not as good as mom’s food but good. I’ve been trying to get the owner to add menudo to the menu but he’s worried it won’t sell well.”

Valeria shook her head. “What are the tacos like?”

“They’re like street tacos,” Lance told her. “So fantastic.”

She lit up immediately at that. “I’ll get those.”

Lance was hesitant to leave her alone with Shiro and Keith, unsure of what she would say to them but certain it would embarrass him. When he walked back out she was talking excitedly with the both of them.

She spoke up to him as he handed her the margarita. “Lance! I just invited Keith and Shiro to go clubbing with us tonight.”

Lance furrowed his eyebrows. “We’re going clubbing?”

“Did I forget to tell you?” Val grinned at him. “You need to let loose. So yeah we’re going clubbing tonight.”

Clubbing. With Keith. Could he even dance?

“I have classes tomorrow,” Lance said lamely.

“Not until that evening, I checked with Hunk.”

Damn it. So much for having a best friend.

Lance sighed. “Fine, okay.”

Shiro and Keith left an awesome tip, Val left sometime after them, and the work day passed relatively fast. The entire time Lance wasn’t sure if he was excited to go to the club tonight or dreading it.

Excited, he decided as he finished his cigarette and climbed into his car. He was going to have fun tonight and nothing was going to stop him. Not even Broody McBroody Pants Keith. 

  
  
  


“Stay still!”

“Val, you have a pencil in my eye! How can I stay still?”

“Eres un bebe!” 

Lance tensed as Valeria brought the eyeliner back to his eye. “Is this really necessary!?”

Val hummed, “Keith seems like the kind who likes his men in makeup.”

“Que diablos?” Lance swore. “That’s what this is about?”

“You were making googly eyes at him the entire time you waited on him and his brother,” his sister told him, finishing with the one eye and moving to the next. “I’m simply helping my brother out.”

“He’s not my soulmate though!” Lance argued.

“Doesn’t mean you can’t get laid.”

Lance sighed and let her finish up. They were already dressed up to leave. Lance had managed to find his white skinny jeans in the back of the closet and had a black button up shirt on, unbuttoned at the top to show off his chest a little. Val had forced a choker on him, a leather one with a circle ring in it. Lance thought it was too kinky looking but she wouldn’t let him take it off. Val herself was wearing high waisted black shorts and a Disturbed shirt she had cut into a crop top. The heels she was wearing were downright sinful and Lance was very careful not to let his feet too close to hers in fear she would step on him and leave him impaled through to the floor. 

Pidge and Hunk stood off to the side, watching with grins on their faces at Lance’s torture. Pidge was in a white dress with alien heads on it. Hunk tried to keep it relatively simple, blue jeans and a pale yellow v neck shirt. 

“I still wish you would have let me put you in a crop top,” Val told Lance as she finished his eyeliner.

He huffed. “No way in hell. Not again.”

He didn’t want a repeat of Bad Bitch. Keith had seemed to drop it but he wasn’t about to push his luck with that.

“Guys, I hate to rush you,” Hunk started. “But we should have left like ten minutes ago.”

Lance’s sister sighed, straightening up and letting her victim up and off of the seat. “Fine, let me put on some lipstick and then we can go.”

“I’ll go work on starting Rosalina up,” Lance said, silently thanking Hunk for ending his torture.

When they got there Keith, Shiro, and Allura were already in line for the club. They cut in line with them, ignoring the grumpy comments behind them. 

“Hey!” Hunk said excited. 

“Haven’t been clubbing since I had Jaimee,” Allura commented. “This should be fun.”

Valeria grinned, “You must be Shiro’s wife! I’m Val, Lance’s sister.”

Allura smiled and shook her hand, “Nice to meet you.”

“This is so exciting! Lance and I used to go clubbing all the time,” Val gushed. “Fake ID’s got us in everywhere, we would get so fucked up.”

Lance’s face lit up with a grin. “We were always the center of attention.”

“It’s cuz the way you shake that god given ass of yours is hard to ignore,” his sister bounced a little where she stood. “Those were the best days of my life.”

“Up until we got caught and mom grounded us both for a year.”

They both sighed as they remembered, the smiles never leaving their faces.

Hunk shook his head, “You two were ridiculous. I was always picking your drunk butts up.”

Pidge grimaced. “Remember when Lance puked on Rosalina and cried for three days straight about it.”

Keith snickered at that, “Was that a girlfriend?”

“Car,” Hunk clarified. “His one and only love.”

“Rosalina and I have been through everything together,” Lance defended.

Shiro and Allura laughed a little, and Keith just looked a little confused.

“You named your car Rosalina?” He asked blandly.

Lance chose to ignore his tone of voice, “Yep!”

The closer they got to the entrance the louder the beat of the music became. Lance bounced on the balls of his feet excitedly. It was a little weird going clubbing with such a big group, he was used to it just being him and Val, however the thrumming bass quickly got him in the right mood.

Keith on the other hand just started looking nervous.

“What’s your deal, buddy?” Lance asked him.

Keith gave him a weird look. “What do you mean?”

“You look like you’re ready to bolt.”

The boy flushed dark and looked away, “Never been clubbing.”

Lance could believe it. Keith didn’t seem like the party boy type. He raised an eyebrow at him and asked, “You know how to dance?”

“No,” Keith mumbled.

“Not a problem, chico lindo,” Val spoke up. “Lance can teach you, he moves his body like a pro.”

If possible Keith blushed harder. Lance glared at his sister, “Who said I was going to teach him?”

“Help the poor boy out,” She told him. 

“Keith’s going to need a lot of help,” Shiro piped in. “He has two left feet.”

“Hey!” Keith shouted, looking at his brother betrayed. 

When they got inside Allura and Valeria went to look for a table, while everyone else worked on ordering drinks. Another marguerita for Val, vodka and cranberry for Lance and Pidge, beer for everyone else. They also ordered some shots to do at the table. Drinks in hand and back at the table they struggled to hear themselves over the music.

“On three!” Valeria shouted, holding a shot glass.

Shots downed, they all finished their drinks before heading to the dancefloor. All, except for Keith. Which just wasn’t going to do. He hadn’t even finished his drink yet! Lance stared at him expectantly but the boy just looked away and sipped at his beer.

“What!?” He finally asked over the music, glaring at Lance.

“Hurry up!” Lance shouted back at him. “Everyone is waiting for us!”

“Not happening.”

Lance sighed and turned away, walking quickly to where the rest of the group was. He shot a quick look back to Keith, who was looking mopey, before the crowd swallowed him up. Whatever. Keith could be a party pooper if he wanted. He wasn’t entirely sure what song was playing, but the beat was good and he let the thrum of the bass take over his body. Val knocked her hip against his with a grin.

Shiro and Allura parted with the group a few songs later, dancing a bit away from them in a way that was downright sinful. Lance was a little worried she would end up pregnant with another brat right there on the dancefloor. Pidge and Hunk were trying to dance, both of them terrible, but it was beyond entertaining watching them. Pidge tripped and it was only Hunk’s frantic flailing of arms that saved them from falling flat on their ass. Val laughed beside Lance, not once stopping the way her hips shaked.

Lance didn’t go back for another drink until he was sticky with sweat and heaving for a breath. As he walked back to their booth he saw Keith still sitting there with a now empty glass. He turned around to head back to the bar immediately. It might have been a jackass move, buying so many shots to bring back to the boy but he really wanted him to let loose and relax. He looked like he was ready to bolt any minute. Lance didn’t even say anything when he slid a few shot glasses towards Keith, only took his own and downed it.

Keith looked between the shots in front of him and Lance for a moment. “I don’t do shots.”

“Just a few,” Lance tried to convince him. “The more alcohol in your system the more relaxed you’ll be.”

Keith sighed but didn’t argue, knocking back three shots in a row before bending over the table and coughing loudly. Lance handed him the beer he had gotten for him and watched him down half the glass to try and calm the fire in his throat. As entertaining as that was though, Lance was a man with a plan.

“Fantastic,” Lance said getting up. He reached out a hand for Keith. “Now let’s go out there and dance.”

Keith only looked at his hand nervously. “I’m not dancing.”

“Well you’re not going to sit here and be sad either. I promise I’ll make it fun.”

The boy seemed to think about it. Right when Lance was going to give up waiting and forcibly drag him out there the dark haired boy sighed and took the outstretched hand, letting Lance pull him through the crowd. He didn’t take them back to the group though, instead went the opposite way and towards the wall of the club. He figured being away from friends and not in the middle of the dance floor would make teaching him easier and him less anxious. Keith certainly did look relieved so he figured this was a step in the right direction.

“Just follow my lead,” Lance shouted over the music. 

He placed his hands on Keith’s hips and tugged him a little closer. The boy tensed up at the touch, looking down at Lance’s hands a little panicked.

Lance furrowed his eyebrows. “Is this okay? If you don’t want me touching you I won’t.” It would make teaching him a little harder, but he was here to make sure he had fun not to make him even more uncomfortable.

It took Keith a moment before he responded. “It’s fine.”

The other boy nodded, not quite sure he believed him. “Relax a bit, it’s hard to dance all tense.”

Slowly Keith let his body relax, he was still rather tense but it made it easier to guide his hips. His hands stayed awkwardly at his side and was looking anywhere but at Lance. The dark skinned boy sighed.

“Put your arms around my neck,” He told Keith.

Slowly, hesitantly, he did as he was told, draping his arms around Lance’s neck and lacing his fingers together. Lance tried to ignore the rush of heat that swept through him at the touch and pulled him a tad closer. They swayed together trying to keep in time with the beat. 

“You look shitty in eyeliner,” Keith eventually shouted.

Damn, even intoxicated he was still mean. Lance scoffed at him. “I look hot with makeup. This was Val’s doing though, not mine.”

The other nodded. “She seems… nice?”

“She’s a bitch and she knows it.”

Keith laughed at that, and Lance himself grinned. That was a victory of sorts. The boy was still terribly tense and obviously nervous but at least he had gotten him to laugh. 

Slowly as the alcohol coarsed through their bodies Keith grew relaxed and almost limp, Lance getting bolder as his head began to swim. Hands tightened on small hips as they got closer. It was relatively tame dancing, especially compared to the grinding bodies around them, and Lance really wanted to amp it up. Keith was unfairly attractive and the drunker Lance felt, the more he wanted to touch him. In the back of his mind a voice nagged at him, telling him that this was the enemy and that he was being stupid. Drunk Lance didn’t care though. Keith was here in his hands and he was too gone to care about what sober Lance would think later.

“Let’s try something new,” Lance said, his words a little slurred. He definitely had a little too much to drink with what he had planned but at this point he couldn’t find it in himself to care.

Keith nodded and with that Lance rearranged them, Keith with his back pressed flat to his chest. He grabbed one of the boys hands placing it at his neck so he’d have something to hang onto and ground himself, the other lacing his fingers through his and holding them to his hip to help him move. The song changed, bass growing heavier, and Lance thought it was terribly appropriate for how they were starting to dance.

_ Nowhere to run boy, run come here right now _

_ Here right now, here right now _

_ There's only one thing that I wanna feel right now _

_ Feel right now, feel right now _

Keith shivered against him and Lance only started to feel even more drunk. This was ridiculous. Keith was supposed to be the enemy. But he was hot and Lance was weak. Perfect hips in his hands he helped Keith sway. It was still awkward, but it was a lot smoother than it was before the alcohol began to sink in. Lance pressed his nose into Keith’s neck before he even realized what he was doing. Keith tensed up a little and he immediately pulled back, wondering what the hell had gotten into himself. 

The hand on his neck moved to his hair, yanking his head back down into the crook of Keith’s neck, and he couldn’t remember the last time someone had confused him so much. Wasn’t he just giving him shit at work earlier that day?

_ One look and you're mine _

_ Keep your eyes on me now _

_ 'Cause when the stars align _

_ You might bring the beast out _

Keith’s hand, still intertwined with Lance’s, moved from his hip to the center of his stomach. His movements were still sloppy, but with the way he was grinding back against Lance he couldn’t find it in himself to care.

_ Nowhere to run run run, come here right now _

_ Right now, right now _

_ 'Cause when the sun goes down, the beast comes out _

_ Comes out, comes out _

Shit. Was Lance hard? He was hard. What was even happening? His hand gripped tighter on Keith’s hipp, knocking him back into him harder.  _ Drunk… too drunk.  _ He wasn’t stopping though, and Keith wasn’t making him. His tongue peeked out from between his lips, pressing into the sweaty skin of the boy’s neck, and he felt a moan in the back of his throat. 

_ ‘You have a soulmate,’  _ he desperately tried to tell himself. Wasn’t this cheating? Was it really cheating if he and his soulmate technically weren’t together?  _ This is wrong. _

_ ‘Fuck my soulmate.’ _

_ Keep my eyes on you, keeping ties to you _

_ Keep aside how deep inside, I be inside of you _

_ Between your thighs I woop, we gon' slide by in that coupe _

_ We gon' weave through all that traffic _

_ I wear ones and I work magic _

_ Too much passion can end up tragic _

_ Just attraction, no attachments, fuck em! _

Keith spun around, wrapping his arms around Lance’s neck. The brunet’s own hands moved down from his hips to his ass, cupping it and bringing him closer. 

‘ _ This is Keith. Why am I doing this with Keith?’  _ Lance tried to reason with himself. Surely this should feel wrong, feel disgusting. But all he could think about was how amazing that ass felt in his hands, how instead of ogling at it he could finally touch it. The skin under his lips was amazingly soft. The way he was moving against him, while clumsy, was incredibly hot. 

_ I'll take you down, down, _

_ Can you keep it up all night, up all night, up all night _

_ I'll turn around, round, baby give me what I like _

_ What I like, what I like _ _  
_

_ You all over my skin, I'm anxious _ _  
_

_ Paint my body boy, I'll be your canvas _ _  
_

_ Don't talk to me, just show me your talent _

Keith stopped dancing and looked up at him, face just as confused as Lance himself felt. The dark haired boy stood up on his tiptoes and their lips brushed together. Lance was about to press closer, to slot their lips together, when a hand on his shoulder nearly made him jump out of his skin. They quickly separated and Lance turned around to see Pidge standing there with a smirk.

“We’re heading home,” They shouted over the music.

What? Now? Lance pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time. Two in the morning. Had they really been there for three hours already? Lance and Keith followed Pidge out of the club where the rest of the group was waiting.

“Where were you two?” Allura asked, eyebrows furrowed. “You weren’t at the table.”

“Dancing?” Keith answered. “Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do at a club?”

Shiro looked between his brother and Lance. “Together?”

Pidge coughed, “If you could call what they were doing dancing.”

Lance and Keith both flushed and pointedly kept far away from each other as they left the club. They parted ways with smiles and goodbyes and Lance  _ really  _ didn’t want to go home without Keith next to him but he wasn’t about to speak up.

It didn’t really hit home what Lance had done that night until he was in bed beside Hunk, who was already fast asleep and snoring. He had been grinding against Keith on the dancefloor. He was  _ hard  _ for fucks sake. He could blame it on the alcohol, but really? How long had he wanted to touch his ass? How long had he wanted to be that close to him? It wasn’t even the fact that what they were doing was basically dry humping, it was that they were together and they weren’t fighting and it was… nice.

And then there was the fact that they almost kissed. He wasn’t sure what to think about that only that he really wished it would have happened. He’d chew Pidge out if not for the fact that would basically be admitting that he liked Keith.

Wait… did he like Keith?

Lance was fucked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhh I can't believe all the responses I get for this fic and I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart <3  
> My tumblr is neadevar.tumblr.com if you want to stop by!


	6. Chapter 6

Lance McClain woke up with a devil of a hangover and a crisis.

Actually, crisis was putting it mildly. His entire world was imploding on itself. Everything he knew and believed to be true was scattered to the heavens in tiny, gut wrenchingly  _ miserable  _ pieces. Suddenly he didn’t feel like he was meant for anything anymore. The Canvas Effect? Useless. His soulmate?  _ Fucking hell. _

Also the brain splitting headache didn’t help either. He had  _ way  _ too much to drink while at the club and a tiny bit of him blamed the alcohol for everything that went down. That was too easy to pin the blame on though. He might have been wrecked but he  _ knew  _ was he was doing, at least a tiny part did, and he still did it anyways. Guilt had curled up into a vicious ball in the pit of his stomach pinning him to the bed. If he didn’t get out from under his sheets for the next century it would still be too soon. 

Okay maybe he was being a little dramatic, but he did feel pretty awful.

“So,” Valeria began, sitting next to him on his bed and making it dip. She tugged gently at the covers on top of him in an attempt to get him out. “You and Keith were dancing, huh?”

Lance only buried himself farther into his blankets. He had woken up tangled,breathing in stifling hot air underneath the heavy cloth but he couldn’t bring himself to poke his face out for fresh air. Muffled, he said, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

No, that was a lie. He  _ really  _ wanted to talk about it. If he talked about it though, that made it more real. It would cement the fact that he  _ liked  _ Keith which was something he was still having trouble dealing with (or was refusing to deal with). He kept repeating ‘ _ Canvas Effect’  _ over and over in his head as if that would make the crush go away because the universe had him taken. He couldn’t fall for Keith even if he wanted to with every ounce of his being. It felt  _ wrong.  _ There was someone out there who was his. Maybe they were an asshole when they were younger, but what about now? Lance hadn’t tried to make contact since he had been blown off. All he’d done for the past seven years was drawn dicks on his skin because he was petty and hurt. What if they were waiting for him now? What if every time they drew one of their pretty designs they hoped that maybe Lance would reach out again instead of being an ass?

So that was that. Lance belonged to someone. He might not have seen them or touched them or given himself a chance to fall for them but he was  _ theirs.  _ The last thing he could do would be to fall for someone else.

Val snapped her fingers next to his ear, interrupting the tornado of thoughts in his head. “I can hear you think.”

“Leave me alone to die,” Lance moaned dejectedly. 

“You are such a drama queen,” His sister laid down next to him. “You guys just danced.”

Oh if only. Lance had also grabbed his ass, dry humped him, and very nearly sucked tongue. He pursed his lips before admitting, albeit in a less mortifying way, “We almost kissed.”

He could feel Val tense up in surprise next to him. “You what?”

Lance only squeezed his eyes shut and curled up tighter. There. He admitted it. He almost kissed someone who wasn’t his soulmate and it felt just as awful as it did awesome. He was a horrible person who deserved horrible things and he was just going to lay underneath his covers until he wasted away.

“Lance,” Valeria whined. “You gotta tell me the details!”

A head peeked out from underneath the covers. “We got shitfaced, I showed him how to dance, and we almost kissed. That’s really all the details.” Or not. She didn’t need to know about the rest though. Telling his sister how much he thought about fucking the guy he was grinding against was awkward on far too many levels. There were some things she just didn’t need to know.

“So why are you so upset? That’s great!”

As if just to make him feel even worse a familiar tingling sensation began at his wrist. He peeked at it to watch the pretty design begin to unfold for a moment before jerking it at Val as an answer. There. See?  _ Fuck. _

It took his sister a moment to talk. “You know, just because you’re connected to someone through the Canvas Effect doesn’t mean you  _ have  _ to fall in love with them.”

“Isn’t that the point?” Lance mumbled. He kept his head turned against his pillow so he didn’t have to look at her, though he was sure the devastation was clear on his face even from where she sat. “You get a soulmate, you meet your soulmate, and you live happily ever after  _ with  _ your soulmate.”

“You hate them anyways,” Val pointed out. “What’s so wrong with chasing after someone else?”

Did Lance hate them though? It had been years.  _ Years.  _ Even Lance had to admit holding a grudge for that long was kind of ridiculous. At this point drawing dicks on his skin was more of a tradition than an actual display of pettiness. He hadn’t even tried to reach out to them after the last time. Of course, they hadn’t tried to reach out to him. Maybe they didn’t even want a soulmate? 

He just settled on, “It feels… wrong. Like I’m cheating?”

“It’s not cheating if you were never together in the first place.”

Lance only groaned and ducked back underneath the covers. Of course Val wouldn’t get it. She didn’t experience the Canvas Effect. She was free to date whoever, kiss whoever, fuck whoever and fall in love with whoever on her  _ own terms.  _ He didn’t get that luxury. He heard all the time about how the Canvas Effect was amazing, saw stories like Allura’s and Shiro’s, but he just felt trapped. This wasn’t how things were supposed to go. This wasn’t what he  _ wanted  _ for himself. Going with the flow and adapting only brought you so far and Lance was kind of done with that. 

“Look,” His sister began. “I’m not going to sit here and tell you what is and isn’t the right thing for you to do. However I will tell you that sometimes you need to carve your own fate instead of letting the universe handle it for you. If that means dating Keith, or finding your soulmate, you decide.”

She left then, closing the door behind her. Lance reached around blindly for his phone for something to distract him until he had to go to class. 

  
  
  


Lance skipped his classes that evening, mind too full and jumbled for him to even try to pay attention in them. Getting called out by Haggar for spacing out was not something he wanted to deal with right then. Let him drown in any missed homework, he didn’t care at that moment, maybe he would die underneath the weight of his essays and adult responsibilities. 

Instead of being a good student, Lance had his paints out and a canvas on his floor. He was covered up to his elbows in color, smears of it on his forehead and cheeks, and even more on the tarp he was on. His hand was cramping up but he worked through it. He didn’t want to stop painting.

Not that he was even sure what he was going for. At first he had pulled up pictures from his phone of some of the pretty landscapes and scenery he had come across and snapped a quick shot of. What was originally the sunset glaring through some wind chimes took a weird turn with color, and while the original idea was still there it was… wild. He was going to go with calm and relaxing in the beginning but ended up with colors that reminded him of the lights from the club. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it was definitely odd.

Nevertheless he finished it up and leaned it carefully against the wall to dry. He had to admit it was one of his better pieces and he couldn’t help but feel a little smug about it.

He traced his fingers over the pattern on the inside of his wrist. He had decided against drawing a crude cock over top of it to get his soulmate to stop, trying to use it as a reminder that he was in all aspects  _ not  _ a single man. It was soothing in a way to be able to look down at see it. 

And then he thought about Keith and he wanted nothing else but for the person on the other side of the effect to be him. It wasn’t, it couldn’t be, and then Lance felt even worse.

“Dinner is ready,” Hunk said knocking on his door. 

Lance didn’t even look at him, still studying his wrist. “Alright. Let me wash up and I’ll be down.”

Pidge tried to annoy him during dinner, but quickly caught onto his mood and stopped with their taunts. Hunk looked terribly worried and he didn’t try to hide it. Val was… well Val. She kicked him from under the table, told him to stop moping and eat his vegetables, and had herself seconds. Lance tried to be happy and cheerful, he really did. Normally it wasn’t that  _ hard  _ to fake his happiness. He was the king of faking a smile and cracking enough jokes that even he felt good again. Tonight though all he could think of was his hands on Keith’s ass and how the boy had smiled at him, making it feel like suddenly the entire world made sense and he wasn’t so terribly lost anymore.

Val put a hand on his shoulder as he was doing the dishes that night. “I have to leave tomorrow morning, chico.”

“ Ojalá pudiera decir que te extrañaría,” Lance teased. He bumped his hip against hers and set aside a plate to dry.

“No seas un mocoso,” His sister retorted. She grabbed his ear and tugged. 

Lance batted at her hand, whining under his breath. “I’m sorry! I’ll miss you I promise!”

“You better,” Val said relenting her grip on his ear. “Do you work tomorrow?”

“Sadly yes,” Lance pouted putting away the last of the dishes to dry. He wiped his pruny hands on a dish towel and turned to her with arms folded. “You should come visit more often.”

Valeria grinned. “I’ll be back as soon as I can, maybe bring along Keegan. He needs to get out more.”

She kissed him on his cheek then and tugged at his hand. He followed her obediently as she dragged him to his room curious as to what she wanted. When she went straight to the cluttered corner of the room it started to make sense though.

“I wanted to bring home one of your paintings,” Val said as she looked through the canvas. “Is that okay with you?”

“Sure,” Lance told her, sitting on his bed. It was a little nerve wracking having her dig through his artwork. She had been his biggest fan growing up though and he forced his pounding heart to relax. 

She pulled out a canvas and flipped it over to show him. “This one okay for me to take?”

Lance only spared it a quick glance, looking back to her face before he could let his emotions show. It was the painting of his mom he did and her grinning face on the canvas was still hard to look at. He wasn’t sure he’d even looked at it since he finished it. He took a steadying breath before nodding.

If Val noticed his reaction she didn’t let on. “Gracias! You’re the best!”

Lance crashed on the couch that night, a bottle of beer in his hand and designs still being stained on his skin.

  
  
  


Lance bid Valeria safe travels reluctantly, clinging to her and whining under his breath when she tried to shake him off. The time she had been here had gone by so fast and he wasn’t ready to say goodbye. He was tempted to climb in the front seat of her car and go home with her. Forget college. He could make himself a life back at home.

Instead he let her go and watched as she drove off.

Hunk and Pidge were at school already. Lance put off driving to school for as long as he was able, laying on the couch and fiddling with the piercing on his stomach. Only when he was pushing being late did he finally get up and head out the door.

In the middle of the professor's lecture his phone buzzed. A quick glance told him it was from Keith and he struggled with a sigh. Fingers twitching he pulled out his phone, thankful he was so far in the back that the teacher wouldn’t think him rude for not paying attention to the lecture. 

_ Keith: I meant to say this yesterday, but thank you for teaching me how to dance at the club. _

Lance stared at the message for a moment, rubbing the screen with his thumb nervously. This was it, this was the perfect segway into telling him how he made a mistake and shouldn’t have let it go as far as it did. He could tell him the almost kiss didn’t mean anything. 

_ Sometimes you need to carve your own fate instead of letting the universe handle it for you.  _

God damn it Val. Lance rubbed at his face and stared at his phone for a moment longer. Maybe she was right, though he was loath to admit. Even if he didn’t actually  _ date  _ Keith what was so wrong with being friends? He was kind of an ass and more than fun to poke fun at but they got along sometimes. 

_ Just friends,  _ Lance told himself as he typed out a reply.

_ Lance: No problemo! Glad u had fun _

He didn’t get another text until he had made it to work and was putting on his apron.

_ Keith: I did. Thanks bad bitch. _

Lance slammed his head into the wall with a pained groan. No.  _ No.  _ That was supposed to be over and done with. Keith was supposed to forget and Lance was supposed to pretend that it never ever happened. He felt a flick to the back of his head and looked over at Josie.

“Hurry,  _ conejito _ ,” she snapped. “You have a table.”

“ _ Josie,”  _ he whined. “I’m having a crisis.”

“You are always having a crisis,” she said ushering him out towards the tables. “Have your crisis later.”

Lance wasn’t able to reply back until he was on break, sitting outside the restaurant with a cigarette in hand. It took him a moment to actually pull up his messages, content just to sift through facebook and puff on his cig until his nerves felt relatively calm. Josie had promised to go on break with him but she ended up with a group that stayed longer than she had expected. 

Sucking in a breath he opened up his messages and typed out a reply.

_ Lance: It was 1 time! Y do u hurt me like this? _

He got a response almost immediately.

_ Keith: It was also multiple photos? _

_ Lance: That u deleted right? _

_ Keith: I like having the blackmail material. _

What an asshole.

Josie came out towards the end of his break with the best news he had heard all day.

“The manager said you can have an extra fifteen minutes on your break,” She had told him, pulling out a cigarette from her apron pocket and stealing his lighter. “He saw how stressed you are and wants you at the absolute best you can be when you get back inside.”

Lance slumped against the wall with a relieved sigh. “ _ Ay dios mio.  _ Bless that man.”

“So,” Josie started as she sat next to him. “What’s got your panties in a twist,  _ conejito _ ?”

“Keith,” He said simply. Even if he wanted to lie to her she would see right through it and he didn’t see the point.

“The pretty boy?”

“That would be him.”

“What? Did you find out he’s an ass?”

Lance snorted at that. “He’s always been an ass. Maybe not intentionally but that’s how he tends to come off. Actually it’s more my problem then it is just him.”

“You fuck him?” She asked bluntly, breathing smoke out her nose as she tapped her cigarette loose of ash.

“No,” Lance said. “Some grinding. Some ass grabbing. We almost kissed too.”

Josie nodded. “And now you’re worried about your soul mate.”

“Yeah,” Lance breathed. He pulled out another cigarette and stole his lighter back to lite it. He took a couple puffs before he could talk again. “I think… I think I’m going to forget about having a soulmate.”

Josie raised an eyebrow at him, “Is that something you can really forget? You tend to get little reminders all day long.”

“Maybe not. But I can forget about ever meeting them or dating them.”

“Because you want Keith more.”

“Because I want a choice,” Lance confessed. “I’m tired of not having that.”

A hand rested on his shoulder, thumb rubbing circles into his skin. “I think that’s a good idea. You came to this job so happy and full of spirit. It’s sucked watching you turn into a full fledged adult. Things don’t have to be so tough,  _ conejito.  _ You’re wonderful at changing when you need to and adapting but you can only do that so much before it hurts you more than it does benefit you.”

_ Sometimes you need to carve your own fate instead of letting the universe handle it for you.  _

Lance sighed and leaned into her. Josie was right. Valeria was right.They had been right all along. Only now he was ready to listen.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mopey Lance wont ladt forever btw


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Theres a brief scene in the begining where Lance jerks off, just a warning lol  
> Also huge huge thanks to my beta Sora (achaptercanbeabook on Archive). I was at a complete loss for this chapter and they were the one who gave me ideas for it and helped me get it done. Its not as long as I would have liked but oh well.

Having Valeria gone made the apartment at least fifty percent quieter. Lance wasn’t sure if he liked it or missed the ruckus. He was glad to have his bed back though. As fun as it was snuggling up to the heater that was Hunk he liked having more than a few inches of sleeping space when the man decided to sprawl out. Sure she crashed on the couch a couple times, more when she didn’t quite make it to bed, leaving him free to claim his room for the night, but he liked having it to himself completely.

He especially liked not having to share the bathroom with an extra person, which meant his morning showers with his morning wood got a lot more fun without Val banging at the door demanding that she be let in to pee. As it were he stripped down naked and debated on whether he should take a cold shower and go about his day or just pump one out and call it good. In the end the latter won out, but mostly because he hadn’t been able to get off very often since his sister had been down. Which, in itself, was a travesty. So there he was, cock in hand and warm water cascading down his back and silently apologizing to his balls for neglecting them so badly.

It was supposed to be quick, to rub one out and then go about his day. No need to fantasize too deeply or look up pictures on his phone. As a groan built up in the back of his throat however what had started out as a faceless nobody who had their hands around his dick turned into Keith. That should have been enough to snap him out of it and turn the water to cold, giving up, but instead his hand tightened and he felt guilt ball up in his stomach.

Heat pooled in his abdomen and he clenched his teeth. Fine, whatever, Keith was already there in his head and he was cute. Plus he had already decided he was going to forget about his soulmate so he couldn’t feel bad about that! Unfurling the guilt tangled in his gut he thought back to when they had danced in the club. Being drunk at the time made most of the memories hazy but he very clearly remembered the way the man had ground against him and the feel of his ass in his hands. Imaginary Keith thumped the tip of his cock and Lance fell against the tile wall with a grunt, working his hand faster and pretending someone else’s slim and pale fingers were wrapped around his flesh. He thought about how flushed Keith had looked dancing and drunk, how wide and adorable his eyes were as Lance taught him how to move his hips. He thought about the man’s cock straining in his pants and how he panted against him. He wished he had seen him naked, if only to know what he looked like to paint a better picture for his fantasies. 

Keith’s face and his own hand around his cock was apparently enough though. He came almost embarrassingly fast, cursing underneath his breath as his spend rinsed down the drain. Fantastic. Now that that was done he could let himself feel guilty over getting off to the poor unsuspecting guy. It would only be a one time thing too, Lance decided. He’d have more self discipline the next time. He quickly scrubbed himself down and turned off the water.

To make himself feel better he grabbed a sharpie he always kept in the bathroom for the purpose of retracing the crude drawings that had been washed off, and drew a penis on his arm. Then one on his stomach below his bellybutton ring. Then one on his leg for good measure. Hair wrapped in a towel and clothed, a long sleeve shirt like usual so nobody noticed the badly drawn dicks he kept on his arm, he walked out into the living room.

“Well this sucks,” Pidge said from the couch. “I just got a text from my brother. He wants to have a Star Wars movie night tonight. Your sister just missed it.”

“Val doesn’t like Star Wars,” Lance responded as he sat on the couch beside her. “Also why not at his apartment?”

“Apparently it’s not big enough and he likes to mooch off of me,” they rolled their eyes. “I told him him yes though. He’s going to try and get Shiro, Allura, and Keith to come over to.”

_ Fuck.  _ Lance was not ready at all to see Keith again, especially after his little tryst in the shower. However he forced a smile and a nod. “Sounds good to me.”

“He’s bringing the food at least,” Pidge mumbled as they pocketed their phone. “And if Shiro comes he’s bringing the beer apparently.”

Lance spent the rest of the day not sure if he was excited or dreading seeing Keith. Should he bring up the almost kiss? What about the boners? Or how he jacked off to him this morning in the shower thinking about that stupid ass and how fantastic it had felt in his hands? Too far, probably. Keep it together Lance.

Food. Eat some food and be distracted. Lance made his way over to the fridge only to be disappointed. When was the last time Hunk went to the grocery store? He sank onto the tile floor and pouted at the inside, staring at a bruised apple and some lunch meat. It looked like a typical college kids refrigerator and Lance felt a little bummed out. 

Bums. Keith has a nice bum.

_ This is not working. _

“Hunk!” Lance shouted. “We need groceries!”

Hunk peeked into the kitchen, “There’s money in our grocery jar. I’m not sure how much we have, but I have homework so you’ll be in charge of shopping if it’s that important.”

Lance frowned and went to the cupboard, pulling out the jar and unscrewing the lid. “I put twenty in there a couple days ago.”

He counted swiftly before holding up fifty dollars, “I’ll have to stick with the bare essentials. Milk, bread, and salsa.”

Hunk rolled his eyes. “There’s an ad on the counter for the grocery store, might find some good deals.”

“Get Mac N Cheese!” Pidge shouted from the living room.

Lance pocketed the money and tucked the add underneath his arm. “See you all in an hour.”

Maybe it wasn’t the distraction he had wanted, food was definitely better than shopping for food, but it was better than nothing. He got in Rosalina and worked on starting her up, patting her dashboard and cooing at her until she roared to life. Rain pattered on the windows and he stared through them at the clouds wishing for sun. Turning the radio up he made his way to the neighborhood food market. It was a tiny place but the local farms providing a lot of the produce meaning most everything was fresh if not always in season. He wiped down his grocery basket with the provided sanitary wipes before laying out the ad.

A flash of black hair had him straightening up in panic, but it wasn’t Keith and he felt a little ridiculous for fearing that it would be. He tore his eyes away from the woman picking out grapes and focused the ad. He couldn’t be jumping every time he saw someone with inky hair. Besides, Keith’s stupid hair was a lot nicer then that woman’s. Probably softer too. Silky. It looked that way, all shiny and curled at the edges. Lance wanted to run his hands through it, maybe tug it because he was only human. 

Someone clearing their throat behind him had him snapping out of it, quickly moving to the side of the aisle to let the other person pass. He took a deep breath and continued on, grabbing a thing of bread as he passed.

He was already pushing it, he thought as he dropped things into the basket. He kept track on his phone how much he was spending but groceries weren’t exactly cheap. When he finally got to the salsa he realized he wouldn’t have enough for both that and Mac N Cheese. He stared at the salsa choices for a moment, before sighing hard and turning away to grab what Pidge wanted. He could get salsa next time, he told himself. 

It was still raining when he got back to his car, and he used a grocery bag to try and keep himself dry as he ran through the parking lot. On the way home he had to pull over, feeling his soulmate drawing on themselves and frantically digging around in the compartment for his sharpie. He pulled it out with a gleeful shout and quickly drew a penis on his arm before pulling his shirt sleeve back down to his wrist. His soulmate successfully muted he continued back home.

Pidge was there immediately when he got back to the apartment, bouncing on the balls on their feet. “Did you get the Mac N Cheese?”

“Yep!” Lance told them, popping the trunk and climbing out of Rosalina. “Help me carry the groceries in.”

With the two of them it only took one trip, and Hunk was there immediately to put the food away.

“No salsa?” He asked looking through the bags and pulling things out.

“Decided I didn’t really want salsa,” Lance shrugged. 

Hunk gave him a look but didn’t say anything else. Lance made his way to the living room, sitting down on the couch and stretching his legs out. Pidge handed him a controller.

“I need to shower, get my rank up in comp will ya?” 

They left before he could reply and he settled in for a few rounds of Overwatch. He figured he should probably turn the chat on, decent communication with his teammates and all, but he wasn’t in the mood to be told to drink bleach. 

Keith is probably a Genji main, he figured as he looked through the characters. 

His third match just ended when the doorbell rang and a voice shouted beyond the door, “I have chinese food!”

That got Lance moving, practically jumping over the back of the couch to get to the door. He yanked it open to find Matt grinning with bags of takeout in his hands. 

“You are my favourite,” Lance gushed, grabbing the food from him and letting him in.

“With good reason, I know.” Matt kicked off his wet shoes at the door and shaking out soaked hair. Lance looked out behind him to see that it was still pouring rain.

“Good, you actually brought food this time,” Pidge muttered walking up to them.

“It’s nice to see you too, Pidgeon.”

Lance didn’t pay too much attention to their bickering, already opening a box of kung pao chicken and snapping the cheap wooden chopsticks apart so he could dig in. He had a mouth full of chinese when the doorbell rang again. Hunk got it this time as Pidge tried to snag the takeout box from Lance’s arm and they ended up in a chopstick duel. He parried and jabbed, determined not to lose his food to the little imp trying to disembowel him. 

By the time Shiro, Keith, and Allura made their way into the living room Lance had the box high above his head while Pidge stabbed him hard in his stomach with a chopstick in an attempt to get him to drop it. It hurt, damn bad, but he only caved in his body a little to deal while making sure they couldn’t reach the take out box still. This was his food, to hell with giving in. A little poke in the stomach was nothing in the face of starvation.

“Get away, you little gremlin,” Lance parried a poke with his own chopstick. “I got this box first!”

“You  _ know  _ kung pao is my favourite,” Pidge went low and nearly skewered Lance’s dick.

He just barely managed to dodge the fatal jab with a high pitched squeal. “Finder’s keepers! Early bird gets the kung pao!”

Shiro plucked the box from Lance’s hand with ease, digging his own chopsticks into it and shoveling chicken into his mouth. Lance and Pidge both gaped at him. Keith snickered behind his hand and Allura rolled her eyes at their antics.

“Deceived,” Lance whispered dramatically. “Betrayed.”

“I just want my goddamn kung pao chicken!” Pidge screamed.

In the end they got their chicken, which they protectively cradled in their arms on the floor while Matt put in a DVD. Lance spared a glance at Keith, who had remained pretty silent since he had gotten here. He had his arms crossed over his chest and was very obviously trying not to look at Lance. The brunet wasn’t sure if he was offended or a little relieved. The asshole had decided to wear a pair of tight black skinny jeans that showed off his ass quite well and Lance wanted to scream into his face about it. Instead he focused his attention to the red long sleeved shirt he wore, wondering what his problem was about wearing t-shirts. Not that Lance could really say anything, since he started drawing dicks on his arms long sleeve shirts were practically all he owned and wore.

Lance grumbled a little under his breath and grabbed a box of fried rice hoping he could manage to not sit by Keith. At least that way he could actually focus on the movie and not the cute boy in the room hopefully. As it were lady luck decided to give him the birdy as he ended up squished next to him with Shiro on his other side.

“Hey, Keith!” He said cheerfully, determined to appear as normal about everything as possible. “Nice weather today, huh?”  _ I totally didn’t cum to the thought of your hands around my dick this morning. _

Keith looked at him confused. “It’s been raining all day.”

Oh. 

_ Don’t think about how you jacked off to him today, don’t think about it. Do not think about it. _

Shit, his hands really were dainty. Keith ran his tongue over his lower lip, the stud at the tip of it glinting. Filed away for the next time Lance managed to get some alone time. 

_ Fuck. _

The movie started quickly enough and Lance grabbed a beer from Shiro. He tried to ignore the way Keith’s mouth touched the lip of his own corona bottle and took to chugging his to distract himself. That night at the club had ruined everything. Lance used to have no problems ignoring how cute he was, or at least not as much of a problem, but here he was trying not to stare at the way Keith swallowed. It broke the dam that was Lance’s repressed feelings and now everything he could have felt about him was tumbling inside his chest. 

He tried to focus on the movie, he really did, but found it entirely impossible to do so with Keith sitting beside him. Lance cleared his throat and shuffled before sparing a glance at him. Damn it, he was cute.

“Explosions can’t happen in space,” Pidge muttered under their breath reminding Lance that staring at Keith was probably pretty weird and he should stop.

“Shush,” Matt hissed. “You’re ruining the magic.”

“She’s right though,” Shiro said. 

“Yeah well there’s no such thing as a wookie either so I’m willing to suspend my disbelief.” Matt argued. He huffed and crossed his arms together. “No more commentary from the peanut gallery.”

“Princess Leia is so beautiful,” Hunk said dreamily. 

“Quiet!”

Lance felt more than heard Keith laugh under his breath. “Not with that hair she isn’t.”

“Keith, do you want to fight?” Hunk asked. “Because I will fight you. Right here right now.”

“Hunk you cried when you swatted a fly yesterday,” Lance pointed out. “You’re not fighting anyone.”

“Well, yeah, but only because it was going about its business. He wasn’t hurting anyone. I just came in and took its life just like that like I was some sort of god. It was cruel.”

“If you guys don’t shut up I’m going to stab all of you!” Matt threatened brandishing a dirty chopstick.

Matt was quick to put in the next Star Wars after it ended, practically lunging at the TV. Lance was on his fourth beer. Allura had her head on Shiro’s shoulder and was nodding off. Pidge was curled on the floor still protecting her box of chicken with her head in Hunk’s lap. Lance was pointedly not seeing how Keith was doing. 

He wished he had though, if only to be prepared, because ten minutes later Keith had his head on his shoulder and was breathing softly into his shirt. Lance immediately tensed up and looked down at him in shock. Asleep. He had fallen asleep.  _ On him.  _

Feeling Lance tense Shiro looked over and chuckled. “Surprised he lasted this long. He normally falls asleep during movies a lot quicker. Want me to move him?”

A soft moan against him made him clench his teeth. “Um. No, it’s fine.”

_ It’s not!  _ Lance’s mind screamed at him frantically. There was nothing okay with how god damn cute his tiny little snore he made just then was, or how his hands twitched while he slept, none of it was okay in the slightest. Fuck, was he adorable though. Terribly so. Lance was doomed. 

He looked down at the mop of black hair in his sight and started thinking about how soft it might be again. It was easy to dismiss those thoughts in the store but with the man right here and in his reach? He was weak. He maneuvered his arm so it was no longer trapped between him and Keith so that the man could lean against his chest. Ah, it was soft. He trailed his fingers through his hair a little before catching Shiro staring at him curiously. He cleared his throat and quickly stopped petting Keith and focused on the TV. 

Or, tried to. Keyword being ‘tried’. It was kind of hard with the hot puffs of air against his chest or how Keith nuzzled into him a little when a particularly loud blast rang from the TV. He wanted to feel guilty. When had he stopped feeling guilty? He had a cute boy leaning against him and loved every bit of it and it wasn’t his soulmate. 

Stop it, he thought. He already went through this with both Val and Josie. Screw his soulmate, right? Keith was a hundred times better than they could ever be. He had made his choice and he had to stop thinking about the stupid Canvas Effect for this to work.

Far too quickly the movie ended and they decided to call it a night. Shiro gently woke up Allura so she could drive them home before helping Hunk and Matt clear up the empty beer bottles. Lance figured he should probably wake up Keith but that was the last thing he wanted to do. It wasn’t until the bottles were taken care of did he nudge Keith.

“Hey,” he whispered softly. “Time to get up, mullet.”

A soft groan.

“I know I’m terribly comfortable, but you’re drooling on me.”

Keith only pressed himself closer, if that were possible. Shiro watched with a smirk.

“He’s actually a huge man child,” he said. “I’m not sure if you’ll be able to wake him up now.”

Lance sighed and gently maneuvered himself away from the dark haired man. “Great, what’s your game plan?”

Allura came by and pressed the rest of the beer into Shiro’s arms. He looked at Lance helplessly. “Well I was going to just carry him to the car.”

“I got it,” Lance said, embarrassed by the way his cheeks flushed a little. 

It was surprisingly easy getting Keith into his arms. He was terribly clingy in his sleep and immediately latched onto Lance with little coercion. Lance followed Shiro and Allura out to his car thinking he should probably start exercising regularly again. Keith was a lot heavier then he looked and his arms were quickly getting tired. Hot breath puffed against his neck making goosebumps raise on his skin and his heartbeat quicken. 

Keith woke up a little when he was placed in the backseat of Shiro’s car. He stared confused at Lance as he untangled his arms from around his neck.

“Thanks, Lance,” Shiro said as he placed the beer next to Keith, who immediately reached for one before recoiling when the older man slapped at his hand.

“Not a problem,” Lance told him, straightening up and closing the car door. Keith was slumped against the seat fast asleep again. 

He waved as they drove away before heading back inside, seeing Matt passed out on the couch. Hunk and Pidge were nowhere in sight and he figured they must have already gone to bed. He made his way there then, trailing a hand along the wall. His body still felt warm where Keith had fallen asleep and he rubbed at his shoulder to try and calm his body down. 

His soulmate didn’t draw on him that night and Lance was grateful. Less dicks, he tried to rationalize, but he knew it was because that was the last person he wanted to think about when his mind was full of Keith. It made it easier to make this choice, to choose him over someone the universe chose for him. Being just friends would be fine, he decided, maybe even better. He really wanted more though.

Lance just wasn’t sure how to get that. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the kudos and comments! Im still absolutely blown away by the love for this story. My tumblr is neadevar.tumblr.com if you want to visit, i post a lot of voltron and dragon age and cats.


	8. Chapter 8

It seemed like with every class Lance went to dropping out seemed like a better and better idea. Student loans were a weight over his head threatening to drop and crush him. His professors were mostly cool, Haggar aside. The old hag liked to make his time as miserable as she could. It must have brought some glee to her sad life, and Lance liked to fantasize about her dropping with a heart attack to get him through her class. Awesome professors weren’t enough to make him want to stay though, and as he bounced his leg and listened to the professor drone on about something to do with social relations. Lance wasn’t too interested. Not that he was really interested in his degree at all.

Even still he took notes, though he wasn’t entirely sure what exactly his hand was writing down. His head was still at home in bed with a cup of coffee beside him. He tried to tell himself that he only had a few more years of this droning existence before he could do something with his education. Although, a few more years meant more money that was being held over his head which meant more stress on his part. 

Lance had to fight down the urge to run from the classroom and never stop running. It would be nice to get away, to forget he was Lance McClain for a while. Responsibilities? He would have none. Of course that wasn’t exactly feasible and he felt worse just thinking about it. 

When classes were finally over he made his way to work, not even bothering with the radio being too much in a funk to care. Even so, he tapped his fingers against his steering wheel as he drove as if he were listening to music. He pulled up next to Josie’s car. Ten minutes early.

“Awesome,” he muttered digging around his car’s compartment for his cigarettes, thankful that he had enough time to smoke one before he went it. He grabbed the box and the lighter and crawled out from his car already lighting one. 

What was once just something he did with Josie was quickly turning into a habit, he realized as he took a drag. He should probably quit, toss this box in the trash and forget about it, but when he looked in his car at his bag filled with his sad education he pulled out another cig. There were worse things to be addicted to, he decided. It felt like a shitty excuse though and he slumped against his car more.

He clocked in on time smelling like ash. Josie walked by him as he was putting on his apron and grimaced, pulling out a stick of gum and handing it to him. He took it gratefully.

“Bad day?” she asked as she put an order through to the cook, clipping the paper up carefully.

“You could say that,” Lance told her. “I think it’s just me making it bad.”

Josie nodded and put a hand on his shoulder. “Lo siento, conejito.”

Lance gave her a smile, putting as much Lance dazzle as he could in it. She rolled her eyes at him, obviously not buying it, before walking back out to her tables. He watched her go with a slump in his shoulders. He shook his arms out, as if he could wring the awful mood he was in out through his fingertips. Hours later he was setting down drinks at his only table when he heard a familiar voice.

“We’d like to sit in Lance’s section.”

He looked over quickly to see Shiro and Keith being led by the hostess, giving them a small wave. Shiro looked as good as ever, the muscle tank he wore showing his lack of prosthetic arm. Lance realized he had never seen him without it and tried not to stare too hard at the lump of scarred flesh where a limb was supposed to be. Keith looked tired, bags underneath his eyes and his frown deeper than usual. Lance himself frowned at that and found himself worrying. 

One of the customers at his table clearing their throat snapped him out of it, and he quickly apologized. He finished passing out their drinks and took their order with a smile before retreating back into the kitchen to place it. Josie was right behind him all grins.

“Your pretty boy is here,” she said nudging him.

“I saw,” Lance told her.

“Feel better now?”

Lance thought about the frown on Keith’s face and decided he actually felt a little worse, worry adding on top of his mood. With a smile though he told her, “Yeah, I think so.”

“Get out there,” she shooed him out of the kitchen and he let her with a laugh.

Lance walked up to their table with a genuine smile on his face. “Hey guys!”

Shiro grinned up at him, “Hey Lance! Slow day?”

“Incredibly,” Lance sighed dramatically. “I’m so bored.”

“When’s your next break? We might be able to hang out with you.”

Lance looked over at the clock on the wall, “I can take one in about half an hour if it stays this slow and I have no more tables by then.”

Keith looked up at him then, his frown a little less deep than when he came in. “How long are your breaks?”

“About fifteen minutes,” Lance told him. 

“We don’t have any appointments for the next two hours,” Shiro said. “If you’d like we can keep you company on your break.”

“That would be awesome,” Lance told them. “What can I get you two to drink?”

It was a little weird, honestly, Lance thought as he got their drinks. He hardly knew them and wasn’t sure what he could talk about while on break. He appreciated that they wanted to spend time with him though, and in doing this he could be around Keith more. Stupidly cute Keith.

Lance wasn’t able to take a break until forty-five minutes later, but Keith and Shiro didn’t seem to mind. They met him out back and Lance took a couple minutes to grab his cigarettes and a lighter. 

Keith looked at him shocked as Lance put a stick in his mouth and lit it. “You’re a smoker?”

Lance grimaced a little, “Yeah, I guess I am.” He took a drag and blew smoke away from them. “If it bothers you guys I can put it out.”

Not that he wanted to. At all. He was starting to cling to the shitty sticks like a lifeline. 

Shiro shook his head, “I’m cool with it. Allura used to smoke before she got pregnant so I’m used to the smell.”

Keith just shrugged, not seeming to care but definitely not looking at Lance’s face. Lance frowned a little at that not buying his nonchalant attitude about it.  Even so Lance took another drag. “How’s Jaimee?”

“At home with Allura drooling on taxes,” Shiro told him. “She’s going to be hanging out with uncle Keith tonight while we go on a date.”

Keith frowned a little at that, looking almost scared. “She hates me. There is no way this can go well.”

“She just needs to spend more time with you, it’s not her fault you’re as prickly as a cactus.”

Lanced snickered at the image that came to mind. Keith as a cactus? All he thought about was a saguaro with a mullet. Not a very flattering image but it was funny nonetheless. “That’s a pretty accurate description.”

Keith glared at him, but it was playful not angry and Lance grinned wider. “She has an attitude.”

“She’s a baby, Keith. Her only attitude is sleepy and hungry.” Shiro leaned against the wall of the building. 

“She’s more devious then you give her credit for,” Keith mumbled.

“She is Allura’s kid too,” Shiro shrugged. “Some of that sass has to have rubbed off on her some way I guess. Also, Lance? Allura was wondering when Hunk was coming back in.”

“He’s waiting on his next paycheck,” Lance told him, tapping the ash off his cig. “He’s expecting a bonus so he’s planning on using that money to finish up his tattoo.”

Shiro nodded. “I’ll let her know.”

“You have any tats?” Keith asked him.

Lance shook his head with a small laugh, “No. The belly button piercing was the wildest thing I’ve done since I graduated. Most of my money is going towards rent, food, and school. What about you? Anything cooler than the stud in your tongue?”

Keith shrugged and took a step closer, pulling up the sleeve of his shirt just enough to show off a constellation tattooed on his wrist, small black stars being connected by thin lines. “I have my birth month’s constellation there.” He turned around and pulled his shirt down to bare the back of his neck, where a red lion peered out at Lance with brilliant eyes. It was incredibly detailed, the mane flowing with shades of orange and red and black, and for a moment he was speechless. Keith continued not seeing the shock on Lance’s face. “I drew out the design for this one and Allura did it for me.”

“That looks amazing,” Lance said when he finally figured out how to talk again.

Keith gave him a weird look, like Lance had just grown a second head before muttering, “Thanks.”

Not quite the reaction Lance was expecting honestly, but he figured he had been kind of rude to him often so for him to compliment Keith was probably shocking. Lance felt a little guilty then. God, he knew he could be an ass sometimes but why had he been rude to Keith in the first place? He scratched at his jaw and took another puff of his cigarette. He’d have to apologize. Not here with Shiro around, but sometime soon hopefully.

All too soon his break was over and he had to head back in. 

“Good luck with Jaimee!” Lance shouted at Keith as he watched them make their way to their car. Keith sent him a bummed out look and a weak thumbs up. 

Feeling quite a bit better than he was earlier Lance made his way inside the restaurant. It seemed silly how hanging out with Keith could change his mood so dramatically but he wasn’t about to over analyze it right then. Maybe later. In bed. 

Yeah, that would work.

  
  
  


Looking at his student loans wasn’t something Lance liked to do often. If he didn’t look, they didn’t exist, and he could pretend he wouldn’t be paying off debt for years to come for a degree he loathed to get. Occasionally he checked on it. If only to see just how much he’d racked up and tell himself that if he dropped out now it would all be pointless. At this point though thinking about needing to take out  _ another  _ loan to finish off his year was about as daunting as leaning off the edge of a cliff. 

Lance spared a thought to the envelope enclosed check his sisters had sent him hiding underneath his bed, tapping his knee with his fingers nervously. He knew it wouldn’t be enough for everything he would need, but it would make a little bit of a difference. As quickly as the thought came though he banished it. He wasn’t going to open that envelope, not ever again. If it was under the bed it didn’t exist.

His phone buzzed beside him and he quickly fumbled with it, squinting a little when he saw a text from Keith.

_ Keith: I need help. _

That was worrying. Lance opened quickly typed out a response, not wanting to leave him hanging if he was having an emergency.

_ Lance: Wuts up? U okay??? _

It took almost ten minutes before Keith responded, and in that time Lance nearly chewed through his thumb. If Keith was coming to  _ him  _ needing help then whatever was happening must be serious. They weren’t exactly buddies, they didn’t text on the daily, they weren’t  _ close  _ by any means, so why of all people did he come to Lance? He was going to run himself ragged thinking of all the things that could have gone wrong when his phone finally buzzed.

_ Keith: Jaimee won’t stop crying I need your help _

_ Keith: Please _

Oh this fucker. Lance put his face in his hand, groaning into it. So it wasn’t an emergency at all. Just a screaming kid stuck with a man who had no clue what he was doing. 

_ Lance: Shouldn’t u be asking Shiro and Allura or Coran about this? _

_ Keith: I’m not going to interrupt their date and Coran won’t answer his phone. Jaimee likes you. Please come help. _

Well, Lance  _ did  _ like baby Jaimee quite a bit and spending time with Keith wasn’t a bad thing anymore. As if he needed more encouraging Keith shot him another text.

_ Keith: I’ll order pizza. _

_ Lance: Send me your address and I’ll be right over. _

  
  
  


The apartment building Lance pulled up to wasn’t nice by any means. The brick was old and chipped, the fire escape on the side rusted and looking completely unsteady. There was trash overflowing out of a huge trash bin on the side of the building. It was upright and there weren’t shady people walking about so he figured that it maybe looked better on the inside. He parked and pulled out his phone to make sure that he got the right apartment number before getting out and heading towards the stairs. Third floor up, D8. He kicked away cigarette butts as he made his way up, pausing at the door. He could hear Jaimee wailing and for a moment he prayed for all the poor souls living close to Keith who had been hearing that for god knows how long. He knocked, loud enough to try and cut through the screaming.

It took a few moments before Keith finally opened the door. He was red in the face, clothes a mess and hair defying gravity. Jaimee was at his chest, a fist full of hair in one hand and the sleeve of Keith’s red long sleeve shirt in the other. Her legs were kicking and her mouth was open in a scream and if possible her face was redder than Keith’s.

A hand grabbed the front of Lance’s jacket and pulled him inside quickly. 

“I don’t know what to do,” Keith panicked, bouncing Jaimee in his arms. “I tried to feed her, I tried to put her down to sleep, I tried changing her. She won’t stop screaming!”

Lance reached over and gently pried Jaimee’s death grip on Keith’s hair loose before taking her from Keith’s arms. She wailed in his ear and he flinched a little.

“Well for starters,” Lance began. “Baby’s smell fear, so if you panic she’ll panic.”

Keith nodded, shoulders relaxing by a fraction now that the screaming wasn’t directly in his ears anymore. Lance cooed at Jaimee, bouncing her lightly and rubbing her back.

“What did you try to feed her?” He asked.

“I tried sweet potatoes and green beans,” Keith said, rushing into his kitchen. “Let me grab them.”

While he was gone Lance took the time to look at his apartment. It was small, cozy even, but if Keith was living alone it wasn’t like he needed a whole lot of space. The entryway, kitchen, and living room were all open to each other and Lance watched for a second as Keith dug around in a large bag on the counter for the baby food. A box of pizza sat beside it but Lance only spared it a glance. He could eat later. There was folded laundry on the coffee table in front of the couch and a laundry basket still half full beside it. The couch looked old, a red color that was probably a lot brighter in its younger years but still looked like it wasn’t about to fall apart quite yet. A small TV was set up against the wall with a PS3 and a few DVD cases beside it. A small hallway led further into the apartment into what Lance assumed was the bathroom and bedroom.

“Got it!” Keith held up some baby food triumphantly before rushing back over. “You can sit on the couch by the way, or at the counter, or….” He trailed off, looking about his place at a bit of a loss. The baby seemed to have him incredibly frazzled.

“Couch will be fine,” Lance said over the screaming baby and making his way over to it. He sat down with Jaimee still squirming and screeching in his arms. Keith stood awkwardly for a moment before sitting down next to him. 

“Did Allura pack any breast milk or formula?” Lance asked as he looked at the jars of baby food. He wouldn’t want to eat that either so he couldn’t blame Jaimee for being picky. “That’s probably what she’s most familiar with and more likely to take.”

“I tried but she wasn’t interested,” Keith told him, looking defeated.

“Did you warm it up?”

“You’re supposed to warm it up?”

Lance rolled his eyes, god he was so hopeless. He handed Jaimee to Keith who took her with a look in his eyes that Lance could only describe as terror before heading to the kitchen.

“Refrigerator,” Keith told him. “The bottle is in there.”

Lance opened it and took the bottle out, unscrewing the lid. “Is it microwavable safe?”

“How am I supposed to know?” Jaimee’s cries got louder and Keith flinched, talking a little louder. “There’s some glass cups in the cabinet in front of you! You can warm it up in one of those!”

Lance opened up the cabinet and grabbed a glass, pouring the milk into it and sticking it in the microwave. Better safe than sorry, he figured as he waited for the timer to go off. He didn’t want to accidentally ruin a bottle. When the microwave beeped he poured a little on his wrist over the sink before putting it back in for a little longer. When he deemed it warm enough he poured it back in the bottle and screwed the lid on.

When Lance sat back on the couch Keith was still struggling with a squirming and screaming baby in his arms. 

“You’re holding her wrong,” Lance muttered.

“I don’t know how else to hold her,” Keith groaned.

Lance set the bottle on the table and helped Keith resituate Jaimee so she was leaning against his arm. It was hard with her wiggling and screaming and she really didn’t want to sit still but Lance was fairly certain once she started eating she’d be fine. He handed the bottle to Keith.

“She might not want it at first,” Lance told him. “If you get a little bit of milk on her lips and she realizes it’s not cold as shit she should take it.”

Keith did as he was told, resting the nipple of the bottle against Jaimee’s mouth. She turned her head and screamed louder. Little legs kicking out and arms flailing she refused to let Keith get the bottle very close. Eventually a drop of milk landed on her tongue in the mayhem and she calmed down a bit, little eyebrows furrowing as she stared up at Keith. He took the moment to poke the nipple into her mouth gently. She started screaming again almost immediately, but it only lasted for a moment before she took to the nip. Baby calmed down and eating the apartment was finally quiet.

Keith sighed hard and relaxed into the couch. “Oh, thank god.”

“You’re doing great,” Lance told him, sinking into the cushions as well.

“Lance, I pretty much starved her.”

“Okay, you kinda tried to. Good thing I was here to save the day!”

Keith groaned a little at the grin on Lance’s face. “Thank you, I think.”

“No problem! Lancey Lance is always here to help.” Lance beamed a little, grin growing a little wider.

The red was finally leaving Jaimee’s face, tears all dried up and only the occasional hiccup as proof to how long she had cried. Bright blue eyes watched Keith intently as she sucked on her bottle. A little brown hand reached up to pat at Keith’s fingers wrapped around the bottle before she closed her eyes and relaxed into his arms.

“Here,” Lance said getting up and grabbing a pillow. “You’re gonna want this.”

He situated the pillow under Keith’s arm so he wasn’t holding all of Jaimee’s weight without help, and Keith let his arm relax into it.

“She’s a lot cuter when she isn’t screaming into my face,” Keith mumbled.

“Most babies are,” Lance said. He sat on the other side of him to watch Jaimee. Long fingers brushed sweaty hair from her forehead and wipe at her damp cheeks.

“How are you so good with kids?” Keith asked. “I could never get them to like me.”

Lance leaned into the back of the couch. “My older sister Jane has two baby girls, and I used to help my other sister Val babysit the neighborhood kids. My cousin is also a baby making machine and pops one out every two years or so. She’s up to six and I used to watch them while she worked before I moved out here for school.”

“That’s cool,” Keith said. “I was never really allowed near any babies.”

“Why wouldn’t your parents let you?” Lanced asked, a little confused.

“I don’t have any parents.” Keith flinched a little at that. “I guess that’s a lie. I have Shiro’s mom, Kiko.”

Lance furrowed his brows. “Um. I’m confused. Is she not your mom too?”

Keith pursed his lips for a moment before talking again. “I’m adopted. Kiko took me in when I was fifteen.”

Oh.  _ Oh.  _

“Uh,” Lance said dumbly. 

“So before Kiko at my foster homes I was never allowed near the younger kids,” Keith continued on. “I was kind of a shitty kid though. Can’t really blame them for being worried.”

Lance just stared at him, trying to figure out how to process that information. One part of him wanted to say that he was sorry, to offer sympathy because there was no  _ way  _ growing up in the system was easy for him at all. He doubted that was what Keith wanted from him though, so instead all he could offer was a lame. “That sucks.”

Keith snorted. “Stop, I know what you’re thinking. Everyone thinks the same thing when they find out. I’m fine, my childhood sucked but I turned out okay enough.”

Jaimee whined softly stealing both of their attention, her eyes opened for a moment before fluttering closed. Cheeks relaxed as she stopped sucking on the bottle, caved in a bit as she took a few more drinks, before she let the bottle fall from her lips. Lance took it from Keith as he stared at Jaimee a little scared.

“Is she asleep?” He asked, a little panicked.

Lance shushed him softly. “Yeah, talk softly.”

“What do I do?”

Lance held up a finger and took the almost empty bottle back into the kitchen. He set it in the refrigerator before walking back over to Keith.

“Where’s your room?” He asked softly. “We should put her in your bed.”

“What if she falls off?” Keith paled.

“If we put pillows on either side of her she should be fine.” Lance said.

Lance followed Keith into his room, looking around it briefly as Keith made his way over to a small twin size bed. The ceiling was covered in glow in the dark stars, a few of them on the walls beside band posters and images of nebulas. A cluttered desk sat in the corner looking like it had never been cleaned properly in years. Lance made his way over to the bed, pulling back the dark red sheets and helping Keith lower her down gently so she wouldn’t wake. Pillows were placed on either side of Jaimee and Lance pulled a single sheet over her to keep her warm. Baby safely in bed and the door closed both boys made their way back into the main room. Keith grabbed the box of pizza and sat it on the coffee table and collapsed on the couch next to Lance.

Keith sighed hard. “Seriously though, thanks for helping me.”

“It’s no problem at all,” Lance waved a hand, grabbing a slice of pizza. “I’m happy to help.”

A small meow had Lance straightening up fast, looking around to find the source of the sound. A small tabby cat peeked its head from around the hallway, carefully padding out as if it was scared to make a sound, before running towards Keith. It was a tiny thing, almost kitten like, with large ears and piercing gold eyes.

“You have a cat,” Lance remarked, staring at it as it weaved between Keith’s feet and meowed at him.

Keith picked it up and nuzzled into it. “Yep. Her name’s Red. Are you allergic?”

“No,” Lance reached out to pet at her head. She ducked away, staring at him wearily trying to decide whether or not she liked him before lifting her head back up to butt at the palm of Lance’s hand. “Red is a terrible name for a cat, though.”

Keith scowled at him, pulling the cat away from his reach. “Her name is fine.”

“I’m sorry he gave you such a simple name,” Lance cooed at the cat. 

“Don’t talk to her like you know her.”

Lance smiled at Keith’s grumpy face. “I’m kidding, kind of.”

Keith only grumbled at that. He reached for the remote for the TV and pulled up netflix. Lance just reclined back into the couch and watched as Keith chose some wild cat documentary and held his own fluffy ball of fury close. Red purred and kneaded at Keith’s arm, the man not even flinching when claws dug into the sleeve of his shirt. 

“You should stay until Shiro and Allura come get their spawn of satan,” Keith said after a moment. “Just in case.”

Lance could have sworn there was a small blush on the man’s cheeks, but who was he kidding. This was Keith. Hard ass, probably emotionally constipated with what Lance has seen, Keith who seemed more likely to punch himself in the face than blush. 

Blush or not, the fact that Keith wanted him to stick around was a win in his book. Operation “Befriend the Prickly Mullet” was underway, and Lance was determined to see it through.

Speaking of befriending, Lance decided this was probably a good time to apologize to Keith for being such an ass before.

“So,” he began. “I tend to… get mean sometimes.” 

Keith raised an eyebrow and stared at him, as if to say ‘Yeah, and?’. Lance swallowed hard before continuing.

“I wanted to say I’m sorry for being such a dick to you before. I don’t know why I did it, but I shouldn’t have.”

Keith stared at him, face shocked and eyebrows furrowed. “I just thought I did something to piss you off.”

Other than being devastatingly cute and emotionally withdrawn? Not at all. Lance didn’t tell him that though, only cleared his throat. “No, you didn’t. I was just being an asshole.”

Keith seemed to relax a little bit. “I figured I must have done something. I couldn’t figure out why you didn’t seem to like me at all.”

“Oh,” Lance wasn’t sure what to say about that, but he was starting to feel even worse for how he had acted towards him. 

“It’s fine,” Keith shook his head. “You haven’t been a shithead in a while.”

“It’s not fine though,” Lance groaned into his hands. “You didn’t do anything and I decided to take out my frustrations on you.”

“Frustrations?”

Oops. Lance wasn’t about to tell him how frustratingly cute Keith was and how he didn’t know how to handle it. So instead he offered a lame, “College is kicking my ass.”

Keith nodded, accepting the excuse. “Communications major, right?”

“You remembered?” Lance asked shocked, before shaking his head. “Yeah, that would be it.”

“Is that something you even like?”

Lance stared at the pizza slice in his hand for a moment before answering. “Honestly, no. But it’s practical and something I can use for future jobs.”

“You should be doing what you love,” Keith told him. “Not studying for something you’ll hate the rest of your life.”

“I wish it were that simple,” Lance muttered. 

“What do you like to do?”

Other than question his existence and practice pick up lines in the mirror? Those were things he was definitely not going to tell Keith about. He painted though, a lot. He was up to his elbows in paints at least once a week, even if he didn’t finish all of the pieces he started. 

“I paint,” Lance said eventually. “But I’m not good enough to make a living out of it, and I don’t want to become another starving freelance artist.”

“Have you ever tried to make money off of it?” Keith asked.

“Well, no?”

“So how do you know you’re not good enough to make a living out of it?”

Keith might have a point there, Lance decided. But he was terrified of putting his art out there. He didn’t want to face rejection. He didn’t want to be told that he wasn’t good enough and that his art was amatuer at best. A sense of failure is why he decided against going after a fine arts major in college like his mother wanted. There was no way. He couldn’t do it. Lance didn’t like to admit it but he was kind of breakable and the last thing he wanted to be was ‘not good enough’. 

Lance took a bite of his pizza as he thought about it. He could feel Keith staring at him but he couldn’t bring himself to look at him. If he did it would be like admitting he was already a failure for not even trying. 

“I’m really just not good enough,” Lance said eventually. 

“I think you’re just selling yourself short,” Keith argued. “You’ll have to show me your work someday. I can be the judge of whether or not you’re good then. Until then, hush up and enjoy the lion documentary.”

Lance smiled and shook his head, reaching a hand over to pet at Red. 

“Alright, Keith. Whatever you say.”

And Lance was starting to realize he would jump off a cliff if it meant getting Keith’s approval. He thought back to all his unfinished pieces, and the ones that were done but wouldn’t see the light of the sun, and decided if Keith really wanted to see one of his artworks he would have to create something truly amazing. If nothing else but for Keith to think he was actually worth something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have i mentioned that I am absolutely blown away by the comments and kudos i've gotten??? Because i feel so special and happy and i hope you all find $20 on the ground


	9. Chapter 9

Lance had been flicking through pictures on his phone for hours trying to figure out something to paint. He’d gone through the pictures he had taken the past year once, twice, three times. None of them were  _ right. _ He needed something perfect, something worthy enough to paint and show Keith; something to be  _ proud  _ of. The more he studied the photos the more distraught he got and wanted to chuck his phone out the window. Everything he had taken was complete and utter trash. 

He thumbed through them. One more time. Maybe something would catch his eye and scream ‘ _ This one!’  _ if he was lucky. 

Lance wasn’t.

He put down the phone and walked over to his pile of canvas, pulling them out and laying them flat. Only a handful were finished and none of them were worthy of showing Keith. The only one he was happy with was his colorful wind chime piece, but even then it wasn’t amazing enough to go parading around. He studied his unfinished works, trying to picture them in his head enough and wondering what he could do to make them better. He wasn’t going to show Keith some mediocre painting but it seemed like that was all he had. Mediocre paintings, mediocre Lance, what made him think he could impress Keith? 

Kicking at the ground he sighed and grabbed his shoes and a jacket. The light sprinkling of snow on the ground had been long melted but summer was still far away and the air was chilly. It would bite at his face and leave him scowling because  _ fuck winter what the fuck.  _ Lance wasn’t sure he’d ever be used to the cold having grown up by the beaches of south California. Sunshine and glaring heat was what he was used to. Not the way his dick threatened to suck up into his body every time the wind blew freezing where he currently lived. He zipped up his hoodie and pulled the hood over his head to protect his ears as he walked out the front door. Maybe if he went on a walk he’d find some inspiration there. 

Cold wind whipped across his face and he scrunched up his nose, shoving his hands into his pockets to keep them warm. His cheeks were quick to turn rosy in the chill, eyes already watering. Shit, it was  _ freezing.  _ Already Lance could hardly feel his toes. He missed the sunshine and mild winters back home.

His phone buzzed in his pocket and he took it out, staring at the screen a little shocked. ‘Dad’ flashed at him and after a moment he answered with clumsy fingers.

“Hi! Dad!” His voice was shaking a little.

Lance’s father hadn’t called him, or anyone that Lance was aware of, since his mother’s passing. Even calling the man himself the conversations weren’t long at all. His parents were never soulmates, never experienced the Canvas Effect, but losing Lance’s mom had seemed to drain the man of everything that made him someone. 

“Lance,” the voice on the other end was hollow, straining to be affectionate but Lance appreciated the endeavour. “It’s been a while, kiddo.”

Lance flinched. “I’ve been meaning to call, but things have gotten kind of busy.”

More like he didn’t like talking to someone who responded like a zombie. It was awful, he knew it was, but when he talked to him it was like he wasn’t even talking to his  _ Dad.  _ Just some stranger who picked up the phone that he was trying to be pleasant with. He hated himself for putting off calling him. 

His dad hummed, “Valeria told me you’re having some trouble.”

That  _ snitch!  _ Lance frowned and balled his free hand inside his coat pocket. “I’m fine dad, I promise.”

It was silent on the other end for a moment, and when Lance’s father started talking again it was strained. “I know losing your… um, losing your mom really hurt you. If you need to take a break from school I just want you to know you can always come home. We all miss you and we all would understand.”

Lance felt his eyes well up with tears and quickly wiped them away. This had to be the longest conversation they had together in  _ months.  _ As much as he appreciated that his dad was so concerned he took initiative to call but he hated that he had worried him so much that he felt he had to. 

“I know dad,” Lance said quietly. “I’ll think about it, but only because I miss all of you so much. I’m doing better. Lots better.”

“Alright Lance,” there was commotion on the other end of the line. “Jane finished with dinner, I’ll have to talk to you later.”

“I’ll call you soon, Dad,” Lance promised, telling himself that he  _ would _ . No more putting it off. “Thanks. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

Lance stared at his phone for a moment, eyebrows furrowed. A part of him was elated. His dad was finally picking up all his shattered pieces, putting himself back together again, enough to call and hold a conversation. He felt sick that he was so much of a mess himself that other people were taking notice and talking about it. 

He ended up turning back to his apartment. He could paint later when he had proper inspiration. Maybe he’d flick through his photos. Again.

  
  
  


“Guys, please,” Hunk begged, exasperated as he stood by the open door of their apartment. “I’m going to be late!”

“Tell Pidge to give me my phone back!” Lance shouted back from inside, wrapped around Katie while he struggled to grab his phone from them. They shoved it inside their pants with a grin. Lance only spared them a small glance before trying to stick his hand inside their trousers.

“Lance, what the fuck!” Pidge screeched. “Get out of there!”

“Give me my phone!”

“Show me the picture Keith sent you!”

“Go  _ away _ !”

It was only a picture of Red, curled up and sleeping on Keith’s lap, but Lance kind of wanted to keep the picture for himself. Keith looked so sleepy and happy with the cat on him. Besides, Pidge hadn’t even asked before they tried (and eventually succeeded) to swipe his phone. Maybe if they said ‘please’ he would have shown them. 

They had been texting more, practically every day. Lance was elated about it. He had found himself babbling about nonsense when it felt like their conversations were waning just to have a reason to keep talking to Keith. Keith, much to Lance’s surprise, actually talked a lot. He texted Lance often just to rant about deranged customers he’d get, and in return Lance did the same. The two of them could talk for hours about the shitty way they were treated. Lance would send him stupid selfies when he got bored. Keith would send him pictures of his cat.

Lance loved every bit of it.

Pidge pulled the phone out of their pants, but before Lance could grab it Hunk stole it from them and held it high above their head.

“Ah, come on Hunk!” Pidge complained, reaching up on their tiptoes to try and grab it back.

Lance let go of her and quickly stood up, trying to take his phone. “You’re the best!”

Instead of handing it over, Hunk put a hand on Lance’s face to keep it away and opened up his messages. “It’s a picture of a cat, Pidge. Aw, it’s actually kind of adorable.”

“Hunk!” Lance shouted, betrayed. He struggled to reach for his phone and Hunk finally relented.

“Let’s  _ go, _ ” Hunk pleaded.

They climbed into Rosalina then, Lance talking sweet nothings to her on their way over to The Paladins. When they pulled in Hunk threw the door open and was running to the front of the shop before Lance could put the car in park. Lance stared at the still open passenger door for a moment before killing the engine. 

“He’s in a hurry,” he muttered.

“He’s only five minutes late,” Pidge said, climbing out of the car themselves. “He’ll live.

Lance got out, walking over to close the door Hunk had left open with a small huff. That’s what he gets for snooping through Lance’s phone he decided. 

“I’m sorry I’m late,” Hunk was apologizing as Pidge and Lance walked in.

A wave of warm air hit Lance in the face, and while it was definitely nicer than outside it was still bordering on too much. He tugged on the ends of his jacket sleeves nervously. He was out of long sleeve shirts, had to put on a tank top that was sitting in the back of his dresser drawers instead, and he  _ really  _ didn’t want to have to take off his jacket and show everyone the dicks and drawings on his arms.

Allura smiled kindly. “Only by five minutes, it’s okay.”

A small gurgle in the corner had Lance turning his attention away to see Keith setting up for Hunk’s tattoo, baby Jaimee strapped to his chest with part of his long sleeve black and white shirt in her mouth. It seemed the two of them were finally getting along. Lance couldn’t help but feel a little responsible.

“Keith!” Lance grinned. “Buddy! My man!”

Keith spared a glance and waved at him, before taking Jaimee’s tiny fist in his to make her wave too. “Hey.”

Lance made his way over to them. “Why is the place so hot today?”

“Coran couldn’t babysit so since Jaimee is spending her day with us we need to make sure she isn’t going to freeze,” Shiro explained, walking by and kissing the baby on her forehead.

Lance nodded at that, “Makes sense.” Even if it kind of sucks.

Keith stared down at the baby on his chest, “She’s sweating me out.”

Lance pulled at the front of his own shirt, “Maybe of you owned something other than long sleeved shirts you would be fine.”

Keith looked at his jacket, “You’re one to talk. You’re either wearing a long sleeve shirt or your jacket. Even in at work you wear long sleeves.”

“Hey,” Lance held up his hands in defense. “At work it’s required since my arms are almost always covered in something. I have to look professional, even if it’s not really my fault that there are marks on me.”

“You should really try and make contact with your soulmate,” Allura told him as she motioned for Hunk to sit in the chair. 

Lance moved away so she would have more room to work, letting Keith past him as he disappeared into the back room. “Naw, I’m over it. I decided having a soulmate sucks and I don’t want to meet them.”

She looked a little concerned. “Really?”

Lance nodded and shoved his hands into his pockets. “I don’t like the idea of something else telling me who I can and cannot spend the rest of my life with.”

“Having a soulmate doesn’t feel forced,” Allura told him, speaking over the hum of the buzzer as she shaved the hair away from Hunk’s tattoo. “It feels right.”

“If it means he’ll stop drawing penises on his arms now I’m so down for him saying fuck you to the universe,” Pidge said.

Shiro’s head shot up, “What?”

Lance grinned sheepishly. “My soulmate was a complete dick to me back when I was like fifteen, so I’ve been drawing dicks on myself since then.”

Fuck it. It was hot. Lance unzipped his hoodie and pulled it off, tying it around his waist. It felt weird having his arms bare and out to the world like this. He couldn’t remember the last time he let his arms show in public. Allura paused while wiping Hunk down with antiseptic, staring at his arms. He rubbed at his bicep self consciously. 

Keith, who had finally emerged from the back room with cleaning supplies, dropped the bottle of windex in his hand as he passed Lance. Sputtering a little he reached down to pick it up, the baby strapped to his chest making it a little difficult. Lance leaned down and grabbed it for him, handing it over. Keith looked at him with wide eyes before taking the windex and heading over to the windows without a word. Lance narrowed his eyes at him. What the hell was up with that? 

“You weren’t kidding about the dicks,” Allura muttered.

Lance looked down at the faded cock on his inner elbow, just over where a small swirling design was. He shrugged a little as he looked back up at her. She looked concerned, staring at him with her lips pressed together tightly.

“Are you sure you want to just,” She paused as if trying to find the right words. “Ignore your soulmate completely?”

Lance nodded. “Yeah, completely sure. I’m not interested in the whole Canvas effect anymore. Gonna do my own thing from now on.”

There was a bang on the window and Jaimee made a small, upset noise. Lance looked over to see Keith with his fist against the glass. His shoulders were hunched, shaking, and Keith turned around and quickly made his way to the back room. Lance watched him shocked and more than a little worried.

“Keith?” He asked, eyebrows furrowed. “You okay?”

Keith didn’t answer, just closed the door behind him and Jaimee and effectively shutting Lance out. Lance stared at him shocked. Had he said something? He turned over everything that had left his mouth the past few minutes trying to find something that could have upset Keith. Other then talk of his soulmate there was nothing. He couldn’t figure out anything that might have upset Keith. 

Lance looked over to Allura, who only shrugged.

Keith didn’t come out the entire time Allura was tattooing Hunk, and Lance felt sicker and sicker. It had to have been something he said. He had offended him somehow. Or maybe it wasn’t him at all? For all Lance knew he could have seen something on his phone that upset him. Or maybe Jaimee spit up on him. That didn’t explain why he completely ignored Lance though, or why throughout their time there he didn’t come back out. 

Lance forced on a smile as Hunk ogled at his finished tattoo. It did look good. Great even. Allura had done wonders with color on his dark skin, yellows and oranges and reds dancing about. 

“It looks great, buddy!” Lance told him, trying to sound excited. Hunk’s eyebrows furrowed a little, seeing right through it, and Lance felt even worse.

Hunk didn’t say anything until they were in the car on the way home. “You okay?”

Lance turned on the blinker before shrugging. “Worried about Keith. Something seemed to have really upset him.”

Hunk put a large hand on Lance’s shoulder, squeezing. “I don’t know what he’s upset about, but I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

“Yeah,” Lance agreed halfheartedly. "I do love your tattoo though. It looks amazing."

Hunk beamed.

  
  
  


_ To Keith: Hey man, u okay? _

Lance had sent that an hour ago, and he tossed around in his bed biting at his thumb. He wanted to send another text but he didn’t want to sound too nosy. They were friend’s though, right? Lance kind of figured they must be after their time together with Jaimee. They certainly had laughed and joked like friends. Maybe Keith didn’t think so though. Maybe Lance was the last person he wanted to talk to about what was wrong.

Against his better judgment, Lance typed out another quick message.

_ To Keith: Just checking in. U feeling ok? _

Keith didn’t answer that night, or that next morning, or that next day at all really. Lance felt sick to his stomach unable to shake that he must of said something. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> >:D


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so so so so sorry this took so damn long. What with work taking up a lot of my time and the fact that i just couldnt get this chapter right it took far longer then i wanted it to. I made my poor beta get mean with it so i could actually make it as good as i possibly could. Thanks to all of you for sticking with it despite it taking forever

To say Lance was upset would be an understatement. He could feel it in his entire being, something more akin to sickness than just being depressed. It weighed him down. More and more, heavier and heavier with every passing day; and it _hurt._

It had been a week since Hunk had gotten his tattoo finished and Keith  _ still  _ hadn’t responded to any of Lance’s texts. Not the shitty selfies, not the concerned messages, and not when Lance had asked if he had maybe wanted to hang out with him. Lance stopped texting five days in. He didn’t want to actually piss Keith off, at least not more than he already had. 

And he  _ still  _ couldn’t figure out what exactly had happened to make Keith give him the cold shoulder like this. He had spent nights tossing and turning trying to make sense of what he could have done or said to anger him. Maybe it wasn’t even him, Lance had thought. Keith could have gotten bad news through a text. Or maybe he was super sick and couldn’t text Lance back. There were a hundred different reasons for Keith to be ignoring him but Lance couldn’t shake the feeling that it was his fault.

Even so, he went to college and did his homework and showed up to work on time even if all he wanted to do was go over to Keith’s apartment, knock down the door, and demand to know what was wrong.

“Lance,” Professor Haggar snapped. “If you aren’t going to pay attention to my lecture you can kindly leave the room.”

Lance winced, pulling his head up and away from where he had been resting it against his palm. “Sorry, ma’am.”

She glowered at him for a moment longer before continuing her lecture. Lance tried to pay attention. He really did. But he already couldn’t stand this class and his phone felt so heavy in his pocket he wanted to  _ scream _ . He pulled it out and stared at Keith’s name in his contacts willing the man to respond and let him know he was alive at the very least. He stayed seated for another ten minutes before he packed up his things and headed for the door. He could feel Haggar’s eyes glaring holes into the back of his head on his way out but he ignored her. He’d get hell for it the next time he went to class but that was a problem for another day.

Lance didn’t have work that day, so when he got home he didn’t actually bother to change out of his pajamas. Instead he pulled out some acrylics and an old painting he hadn’t finished and set to work. The half finished hummingbirds felt dead to him. Even as he tried to add some life to them with more vibrant colors they just didn’t feel right at all. Frustrated, Lance put his paints away and laid flat on the floor.

He just really, really wanted to know if Keith was okay.

“Lance? Buddy?” Hunk poked his head through the door. “I brought home some vodka and cranberry juice. Wanna get wasted?”

Poor coping mechanisms and a chance to forget what Keith looked like smiling? “Of fucking course.”

Hunk smiled at him and opened the door wider, as if he were just treading the water - like Lance might actually  _ snap.  _ That alone made Lance feel awful. He’d been mopey and neglectful of his friends and one night to actually hang out with them would do him some good. Lance followed Hunk into the living room where Pidge was already sitting in front of the TV drinking their own cranberry juice and vodka with a straw.

When they saw Lance they raised an eyebrow. “Still feeling like a zombie?”

“Sorry guys,” Lance winced.

Hunk just pat his shoulder. “No worries. I’m sure Keith will talk to you again soon.”

Lance looked at him with wide eyes. He hadn’t exactly told them what was wrong, least of all that Keith had anything to do with it.

“You can’t hide anything from us,” Pidge told him.

“Plus I looked through your text messages,” Hunk told him with a cheeky grin. “Please don’t be mad.”

Lanc groaned and ran a hand down his face. “What ever happened to privacy?”

“What’s that?” Pidge asked, the corners of their lips quirking. “Look, this boy has you all twisted up in knots and your crush on him is getting painful for us all. So we’re gonna get drunk, play some mario kart, and you’re going to actually talk to us about what you’re feeling so we can help.”

“Or at least give you some support,” Hunk said with a shrug.

Lance felt his eyes burn and he quickly blinked. The last thing he wanted to do was cry in front of them. “You guys are the best.”

Pidge wrecked Lance at Mario Kart, and Lance couldn’t even blame it on the alcohol because Pidge was more drunk then he was. They were only a couple drinks in but his small friend was swaying as they sat. When Hunk offered them more they refused. Lance on the other hand took another drink gratefully.

“So, Keith,” Hunk started. “He’s why you’re giving up your soulmate?”

Lance chewed on the end of his straw. “Yeah. My soulmate doesn’t like me anyways so I don’t want to waste my time.”

“Are you sure they don’t just hate you because you keep drawing dicks on yourself,” Pidge asked.

“They told me pretty firmly to stop talking to them.”

“Yeah, when you were  _ fifteen.  _ That was forever ago Lance.”

Lance shrunk in on himself. “Even still. I want Keith.”

Pidge shot him a bored look before sighing. “And if your soulmate suddenly decides they want to see you?”

“I’ll tell them to fuck off, they lost their chance.”

“You haven’t even  _ given  _ them a chance.”

Hunk quickly butt in, “Forget about the soulmate thing, that’s a problem for another day.”

Lance turned back to the TV as Pidge flicked through their race course options. “Being with Keith feels right. It feels  _ good.  _ I haven’t felt that okay since my mom passed and I don’t want to lose it just because of a soulmate. I want this.”

“Then that’s all we need to know,” Hunk told him. “And we’ll support you through everything.”

Two hours later and Lance was positively  _ wasted.  _

“I can’t believe I’m gonna miss your dad’s birthday tomorrow,” Lance whined at Pidge, slurring his words as he leaned heavily against them.

“Dad won’t mind, he knows you got work,” Pidge promised, very obviously not as drunk as Lance. They hadn’t touched the vodka in at least an hour and while they were still a little tipsy they weren’t nearly as messed as Lance.

“Still,” Lance grumbled. “Tell him I love him and that he’s wonderful when you see him.”

Hunk groaned from the couch, “I think I drank too much.”

“No such thing,” Lance said with a shake of his head.

“Uh, there is such a thing actually.” Hunk laid back against the cushions and put an arm over his head. 

Lance just huffed and leaned a little harder into Pidge, nearly knocking them over. He stared sadly at his phone on the ground in front of him.

“Keith still hasn’t messaged you back?” Pidge asked softly.

Lance nodded against her. “I  _ like  _ him Katie. A lot. It sucks.”

Pidge snorted. “I know, you’re not good at being subtle.”

“I’m very good at being subtle,” he mumbled.

“I think everyone but Keith knows you’re crushing hardcore,” Pidge snickered. The elbowed him in the side. “I think we all knew before  _ you  _ did.”

“I think I pissed him off,” Lance said softly, reaching for his phone. “He won’t talk to me.”

“Give it some time,” Hunk piped up. “He’ll respond to you eventually. I know it.”

Lance sighed and flopped backwards onto the floor. He really hoped Hunk was right. Something stabbed him in the side and he flinched, looking to see Pidge jabbing a marker at him. He stared at them blankly.

“Drawing dicks always seems to make you feel better,” Pidge told him. “At least give it a try.”

Lance didn’t bother to think about it, just took the marker from them and drew a cock on the inside of his wrist. It was messy, alcohol rendering the lines wobbly, but a dick was a dick and Lance did feel a little bit better. It was like he was back into his normal routine.

“Thanks, Pidge,” He told them.

“Don’t thank me, thank the penis.”

  
  
  


Josie hip checked Lance as he laced his apron behind his back, nearly knocking him into the wall. He flailed a little as he tried to steady himself with a pout already on his face. 

“Josie,” He whined, turning to face her. Josie didn’t say anything for a moment, just fixed his crooked name tag and straightened out his work shirt.

“Your _ chico lindo _ hasn’t been around here lately,” Josie told him when she deemed him acceptable. She put her free hand on her hip and balanced a full tray on her other. “Is he okay?”

God, Lance hoped so. Not talking to him was driving Lance as crazy as it was tearing him apart. He didn’t think so much time apart would hurt him like this but he could feel it with every breath like it was a punch to the gut. He had texted both Shiro and Allura to make sure he was okay. Shiro had said he was fine. Allura told him he was working through some stuff. That they answered differently had him doubly worried. Lance chewed on the inside of his cheek.

“Yeah,” he lied. “He’s just been busy.”

Josie gave him a look but didn’t push him for more information. She just sighed and walked through the door and out to the floor. Lance watched her go before grabbing a pitcher of water and heading out as well. He plastered a fake smile on his face as he filled drinks, took orders, and all the while he had to keep from running and hiding in the kitchen. 

At the end of his shift he sat with Josie outside and watched it rain from underneath the overhanging roof. His thin jacket did nothing to keep the chill from seeping under his skin. He kept his teeth clenched to stop them from chattering together. Rain splashed into puddles in the parking lot and water dripped down from the roof. The restaurant had closed down ten minutes ago but he and Josie hadn’t made any move to actually leave. He puffed on his cigarette before passing it over to her so she could take a drag as well.

“Keith isn’t fine, is he,” Josie eventually piped up.

“I don’t know,” Lance told her honestly. “He hasn’t talked to me in over a week. I don’t know what I did.”

“If this falls through on you, will you try to find your soulmate?”

Lance shook his head immediately. “No. Unless they contact me first wanting to meet I don’t care. If Keith is done with me for whatever reason I’ll be fine.”

At least, he hoped he’d be fine. At the moment it didn’t feel like he would be. His chest felt open and gaping like a raw wound and guilt weighed him down like an anchor. 

“I hope things work out for you,  _ mijo _ ,” Josie said softly. “You need some good in your life.”

“There’s good in my life,” Lance countered. 

“You overcompensate,” a nudge to Lance’s side had him buckling to try and avoid it. “You pretend everything is perfect and nothing is ever wrong. It’s eating you up though. Sooner or later you’re going to crash hard and I’m not sure I or your friends will be able to pick you back up when it does. You need something good,  _ truly  _ good, so you have something to catch you when you finally trip up.”

Lance didn’t quite know what to say to that, chewing on the inside of his cheek. 

Josie sighed and stood up, stretching. “I’m going to head home,  _ conejito _ . My phone’s dead and I’m falling asleep. Hope things work out.”

Lance watched her get in her car and drive away, mulling over her words. He wanted to call his mom about it. She’d know exactly what to do, what to say. She could have been his good thing. He stayed sitting for a moment before groaning and standing up as well. Pulling up his jacket hood he walked out into the rain, moving briskly to his car and quickly climbing inside. Even in the short time it took to get there he was already soaked to the bone and shivering cold. He jammed his key in and twisted it once. Twice.

“Damn it,” he muttered, trying for a third time and listening to the engine struggle. “Rosalina please, don’t do this right now. Come on, baby.”

He cooed a little more, tried starting her a few more times, before he cussed loudly and slammed his hand on the dashboard. Dead. Rosalina was dead. No one was left at the restaurant to help him jump start her but he looked around with an ounce of hope anyway. He checked the time and groaned loudly. It was nearing midnight.  _ Fuck.  _

The bus didn’t come out this far, and the nearest bus station was a ways away. Lance considered making the walk but when a flash of lightning lit up his car he quickly thought otherwise. He slumped in his seat and went through his other options. A cab was quickly thrown out, he didn’t have the money for it. Josie’s phone was dead. Hunk was with Pidge and Matt at their dad’s birthday party that he had to miss because of work. He didn’t know Shiro and Allura well enough to ask if they could get them. 

“I’m well and truly fucked,” Lance grumbled. He tugged his wet jacket closer to his body and watched his breath puff out in the cold air. He tried the engine again, praying under his breath, but Rosalina wouldn’t start. Taking the bus was starting to look like his only option.

He pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contacts, hoping he would get some idea of what to do other than making the trek to the bus station. He paused at Keith’s name, considered it for a moment, before swiping to call. His heart thudded in his chest as he listened to it ring. He wasn’t even sure Keith would come help him, let alone even answer his phone. Lance chewed on his cheek nervously.

“Lance,” Keith answered, and Lance nearly jumped out of his skin.

“Keith!” He shouted, surprised. Already the aching in his chest lessened just by hearing his voice, like a little piece of the gaping hole in him was filling.“Hi!”

“Did you need something?” Keith asked, short. 

Lance winced. Shit, maybe this was a bad idea. “I’m sorry to bother you, I know you don’t want to talk to me.”

“Lance, that’s-.”

“But my car broke down and I’m stuck alone at work and I really need a ride home,” Lance continued, not letting him finish. Keith could tell him why he was mad later. Right now he just needed a ride before he accidentally made him  _ more  _ mad. He chewed on his lip as he waited for Keith to answer him.

Keith sighed in his ear. “I’m on my way.”

It felt like forever before Keith showed up, pulling his motorcycle up next to Lance’s car and hopping off. He was pulling a spare helmet out by the time Lance got out of his car and shoved it against the brunet’s chest.

“I can’t jump start your car with my motorcycle,” Keith told him as Lance stared at the helmet. “I’ll get Shiro to help in the morning.”

“Thanks,” Lance told him, pulling the helmet on. “You’re a lifesaver.”

Keith didn’t answer him, just swung his leg over his bike and waited for Lance to get on as well. As soon as Lance was situated Keith sped off. Lance tightened his arms around him, feeling the chill in the air seep into his bones. He could feel the rain hitting him through his clothes like tiny daggers. He was going to offer Keith directions but it seemed he remembered where Lance lived as he sped down familiar streets. Lance took the opportunity just to feel Keith. He was warm under his wet clothes, solid, and Lance wanted to press his face between his shoulder blades but the helmet made that impossible. Despite the cold rain making him ache he didn’t want to get off the bike when they made it to Lance’s apartment.

If possible the rain was starting to come down harder, the wind having picked up. Lightning streaked across the sky and thunder rumbled. Lance pried himself away from Keith, pulling his helmet off. He hated the idea of Keith riding home in that kind of weather, especially when it was so far away. Keith was already shivering.

“Come inside,” Lance told him as he handed the helmet over. “Whatever you’re mad at me about can wait until better weather.”

Keith hesitated, and Lance continued. “You can take a hot shower and I’ll make some cocoa or something. You can get hurt if you drive home in this.”

Keith didn’t say anything for a moment, and Lance was sure he was going to turn the offer down and speed off, but Keith turned his bike off and kicked out the stand. “Alright.”

Once inside Lance dug around his dresser for a change of clothes for himself and Keith. Keith was a little shorter than he was but he didn’t think that would be a problem. With a pair of sweats, a short sleeved blue shirt, and underwear in Keith’s arms Lance directed him towards the shower. As soon as he heard the water turn on he changed himself. Peeling wet clothes off of his body as he tried to ignore the ache in his chest. Keith was definitely mad at him. He wouldn’t have acted the way he did towards him if he wasn’t. 

After Lance got into dry clothes he thumbed at his wrist over the penis he had drawn drunk last night. It had made him feel better for a while, at least until he had woke up that morning and remembered just why he hadn’t drawn a cock on himself in so long. Now he almost wished his soulmate would draw on him. Even if he didn’t want  _ them  _ just having them there felt nice. With Keith in his apartment Lance could really use some nice. 

Lance sighed hard and left his bedroom, making his way towards the kitchen. He was grateful that Hunk and Pidge wouldn’t be home that night. He could spend some alone time with Keith and get everything figured out and apologize for whatever he may have done. He poured some milk into two mismatched mugs, deciding he’d give Keith his favourite red Mickey Mouse one, and heated them up in the microwave. By the time he had the hot cocoa packets mixed in (a little cinnamon in his as well) Keith had emerged from the bathroom and was standing awkwardly in the hallway. The dark haired man had his arms folded across his chest, almost hunching over them.

Lance nodded towards the couch, “Go sit down. You can use the blanket that’s on the edge if you’d like.”

Keith nodded. When Lance made his way over with the cocoa Keith was already wrapped up in the blanket and was staring into his lap. 

“Thanks for picking me up,” Lance said quietly, sitting next to him. 

He handed Keith the cup of cocoa. Keith took it gingerly and sipped from it, refusing to look at Lance. Lance sipped on his cocoa while his stomach twisted in knots. He wanted to shake Keith by his shoulders and demand to know what was wrong but instead he set his cup down and sucked at the inside of his cheek. 

“I should go,” Keith started, but he made no move to actually leave. 

It was at that point that the power went out and they were thrown in darkness. Keith jumped in response. Lance groaned loudly and turned on his phone's flashlight. Of course. It was like nothing could go right for Lance. 

“Keith, it’s storming pretty heavy outside.” Lance said as he stood up. “You shouldn’t have to drive home in it. If anything you should stay the night and wait until it’s cleared up in the morning before you go.”

Keith didn’t argue, just looked down into his cocoa, and Lance got the impression that he didn’t actually want to leave. 

“Let me grab some candles and flashlights and then you can tell me why you’re mad at me,” Lance said.

“I’m not mad at you,” Keith told him quietly.

Lance didn’t answer, just walked towards his room. He grabbed a couple candles that he used while bathing and a flashlight that had been hanging out under his bed for months. When he got back to the living room Keith was curled up on the couch, blanket wrapped tightly around him, and his mug on the table. As soon as he saw Lance he stiffened. Swallowing around the knot in his throat at that reaction Lance set a candle by the TV and pulled out his lighter to light it. Another candle at the small table beside the couch and one on the coffee table were lit before Lance sat down himself. 

“Can you tell me what I did to piss you off?” Lance asked softly. “I want to know what I need to apologize for.”

Keith sighed hard through his nose. “You didn’t do anything. It’s all me.”

“Then why have you been ignoring me?”

“It’s complicated.” Keith didn’t elaborate, even though Lance wished he would. Instead he reached forward to grab his mug.

Lance’s entire world focused in on this motion, eyes trained on something on Keith’s wrist. He grabbed at it before he could stop himself, Keith yelping and trying to pull it away, and stared at the markings on his wrist until his vision went blurry. Keith was tugging at his arm, saying Lance’s name, but he could barely hear him. There, barely visible in what little light they had. was a faded and shitty drawing of a dick.

Everything clicked in place then. He suddenly understood why Keith was ignoring him. He wanted to go back in time and take everything he had said about forgetting about the Canvas Effect. His stomach tied itself in knots as he finally let Keith snatch his arm back. The man cradled it to his chest, watching Lance with wide terrified eyes as he waited for his reaction.

“You knew,” Lance finally managed, his voice sounding strangled.

“I know you don’t want a soulmate,” Keith started, talking too fast. “And you don’t have to have one. We can forget this ever happened and if you never want to see me again that’s okay. Actually it’s not okay but it will be. I… uh….”

Lance finally managed to tear his eyes away from Keith’s wrist, staring up at him in shock and utter adoration. “You’re my soulmate.”

“I’m gonna go,” Keith moved to leave, and Lance quickly grabbed his arm to keep him from going far.

“Don’t!” He shouted, too loud. “Don’t go.”

“Lance, it’s okay-.”

“No it’s not,” Lance said hurriedly. “The only reason I was going to forget about having a soulmate was because I met  _ you.  _ I was **-”** Lance’s voice became a bit quieter, a bit fonder as he realized what he was about to admit. **“** I was going to give them up for you.”

Keith’s eyes widened in shock. “Lance?”

“I could have been kissing you this entire time,” Lance continued, suddenly pissed at himself. They could have been together this whole time. Lance could have held him and loved him and adored him from the  _ very beginning _ . 

Keith flushed red then, mouth gaping. He relaxed a little into the couch just enough that Lance felt confident that he wasn’t going to bolt as soon as he let his arm go. 

“Let me,” Keith started. He paused and took a shaky breath. “So you… I…. You were going to ignore the Canvas Effect? For me? Why?”

Lance, still reeling, had a hard time trying to put his thoughts into words. “I liked you? I wanted to date you. I wasn’t going to let some stupid soulmate get in the way of that. Except they weren’t stupid because they’re  _ you  _ and I’m still trying to wrap my brain around that.  _ You’re my soulmate. _ ”

Keith ran a hand through his hair. “I thought… I thought that maybe you didn’t want one at all.”

“Can I kiss you?” Ever the romantic. Lance winced and let go of Keith’s arm. “I mean. I’ve wanted to kiss you for a while but if you don’t want to that’s fine.”

Keith went red, eyes wide. He stuttered out a small, “Y-yes.” 

Lance leaned in immediately, taking Keith’s face in his hands. Their noses bumped awkwardly before Lance remembered to actually tilt his head and pressed his lips against Keith’s nervously. He felt Keith breath shakily out his nose. Lance’s fingers trembled, his stomach turning with butterflies, and he swore he could feel his heartbeat in his cheeks. He kept the kiss small, chaste, terrified of scaring Keith away because he finally had what he wanted literally in his hands. And then Keith’s hands were fisted in his shirt and  _ yanking.  _ Their lips crashed together and Lance felt like his brain had just short circuited because all he could think was  _ KeithKeithKeith.  _ Any reservation he had before was gone as he threaded his fingers through the other man’s hair and deepened the kiss. It was messy, without technique, and it dawned on Lance that neither of them really had that much experience. Neither of them knew what they were doing. Yet it was perfect in every possible way it could be perfect. Even when they’re noses bumped together before they righted themselves, laughing into each other’s mouths. Or when they’re teeth knocked together when Keith got a little over zealous and Lance pinched at his side in retaliation.

When they finally pulled away they were panting heavily, not quite having figured out how to breath when they were so into everything. It took Lance a moment to open his eyes. He was still dazed, still elated and so blown away it felt like a dream. When he finally looked he caught Keith staring at him, wide eyed and dazed, and Lance had never felt so complete in his life.

“I want a soulmate,” Lance finally said. “I want  _ you. _ I mean, if you want me too.”

“Lance, you’re a fucking idiot.”

“So is that a yes?”

A smile played at the corner of Keith’s lips, and he finally let go of Lance’s shirt leaving the fabric wrinkled. He tried to smooth it out and Lance shivered under his touch.

“Yeah,” Keith said softly. “It’s a yes.”

And Lance leaned in to kiss him again.

 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was made aware that a lot of you thought the last chapter was the end. You may be happy (or scared) to know I have so much more planned for this story. At least another ten chapters worth.  
> I know I'm the worst at updating so I want to thank each and every one of you for sticking with me through this story. I'm always worried people are going to forget about it when it takes me months to update. Thank you all so much!

Lance took the couch, giving his bed up for Keith. It still felt weird, going from not talking at all to suddenly being together, and though Lance was  _ elated  _ the idea of sharing a bed just felt awkward. They had some bumps to work through, things to talk about, boundaries to set. It wasn’t like they could just jump into living together and adopting a dog. Things needed to be taken slow. Lance needed to sleep on some things. It was probably better to be separated for the night so that Lance could actually think clearly.

He didn’t get much sleep though, and when he saw Keith in the morning as he was getting himself a cup of coffee it looked like he hadn’t either. Lance poured him a mug as well and handed it over. Keith fingers brushed his as he took it from him and Lance was sure it was on purpose. It left his heart hammering in his chest and his face heating up. How just one small touch could leave him so breathless was ridiculous.

Lance loved it.

“So I’ve gotta ask.” Lance treaded carefully. It still felt like Keith might bolt like he almost did last night. The last thing he wanted to do was scare him away now.

Keith looked up from his coffee, not even looking like he was ready for talking so soon after waking up. Dark hair stuck up in odd directions ( _ fuck, he’s cute!) _ and his eyes were still foggy and dark underneath with sleep. He slowly took a sip from his coffee before nodding for Lance to continue.

“Why did you blow me off all those years ago?” Lance asked. He realized he probably didn’t look much better then Keith did right then, and his lower back ached from sleeping on the couch.

It took Keith a moment to process what Lance was asking before he spoke, voice gravily and hoarse. “I was being bounced around foster homes. I blew everybody off.”

Lance hummed and gulped down his coffee, standing up to put it in the dishwasher. That made sense, kinda. It hurt and it stunk but Keith was just a kid and he was going through shit. Lance just wished he could have been there to go through that shit with him. “I guess that’s fine.”

“No,” Keith sighed. “It wasn’t. It was cruel.”

“You were a kid,” Lance said shrugging, regretting ever asking about it. “It happens.”

Keith rubbed a hand across his face. “You tried to talk to me when Shiro’s mom was working on adopting me. I was scared and when I found out I had a soulmate I was even more scared. I was used to fucking things up. I was worried I was going to fuck up and Kiko wouldn’t adopt me. I was worried I would fuck up and you would end up ruining me. So I decided to cut you out before you had a chance to. It was wrong of me. I should have given you a chance.”

Lance looked at him a moment, trying to find the right thing he could possibly say to something like that. He wasn’t good with words though. Not all the time. He sipped at his coffee and stared at the floor.

“I forgive you then,” he finally said, and he watched Keith visibly relax with relief. 

“So,” Keith was quiet. “What now?”

Lance sat down next to him at the bar. “I was actually going to ask you the same thing. I’ve never actually done this. Tried to, but never got very far.”

Keith grimaced, “My past relationships weren’t very good. I was just looking for someone to fill something empty.”

It shocked Lance almost, that Keith had been in other relationships before, but he didn’t push it. Keith was his  _ now _ and that was what mattered. 

“What did your brother do?” Lance asked. 

Keith grimaced. “He went to college after the military discharged him for losing his arm. He met Allura there, knocked her up maybe a month later, and they got married a month after that. I’m not entirely sure he’s someone we should be looking to for advice.”

Lance snickered. “So we do the opposite of Shiro.”

“And that would be?”

“Take it slow?” Lance offered. “I mean, do we really know a whole lot about each other? I spent most of my time trying to make an enemy out of you. We can just take it day by day and see how it goes.”

“Does dry humping at a club count as slow?”

Lance nearly choked on his coffee at the memory. Not that he had forgotten it, but hearing Keith bring it up made him realize just how much it had actually happened. He wasn’t sure any amount of drinks would make him forget.

“Maybe,” he coughed. “Maybe slower than that?

Keith took another sip of his coffee. “I’d like that, actually.”

Lance smiled softly. “I would too.

Keith checked his phone and groaned. “I need to get to work. I’m opening today.”

“I have class in an hour myself,” Lance said peeking at the clock. He groaned and downed the rest of his coffee.

Lance walked Keith to the door, pausing at the doorway when Keith himself hesitated. It looked like he wanted to leave just as much as Lance wanted him to leave. Which was not at all. Lance wanted nothing but to spend all day with Keith and explore what they had just become. To just be around each other. 

Keith looked between Lance and his motorcycle, his eyebrows furrowed. Lance was about to ask him what was wrong but before he could even open his mouth Keith leaned up and kissed his lips. It was quick, chaste, so much different from their kisses last night and it took Lance by complete surprise. Keith was out the door, leaving Lance dumbstruck, and shouting his goodbyes as he hopped on his bike.

_ He's still wearing my shirt,  _ Lance thought as he watched the motorcycle speed off. 

Hunk pulled in only minutes later, walking through the front door with Pidge clinging to his back. Lance lit up almost immediately. The urge to shout what had just happened to him was overbearing and it took everything in Lance too seem cool. If he was vibrating in place no one pointed it out.

“Hunk! My man!” Lance waved with his free hand, the other holding his mug of coffee.

“Where’s Rosalina?” Hunk asked, eyebrows furrowed.

Lance deflated. Right. Rosalina. His poor car was still parked outside of work feeling abandoned and hurt. Keith had offered to have Shiro fix it, but Hunk knew Rosalina inside and out and would know exactly what to do to help her. Hopefully.

“It was awful,” Lance whispered. “Horrible. I fear she may be gone forever.”

“Has she finally given up on you?” Pidge asked. They climbed down from Hunk’s back and made their way to the couch and plopped down with a small “ _ oof!” _

“She broke down at  _ Segobiano’s. _ ” Lance explained, sadly.

“You should have called,” Hunk scolded. “I would have come to pick you up.”

“It’s okay, Keith came to my rescue.”

Pidge peered at him from behind the couch. “Keith?”

“Yeah, we figured shit out.” Lance started picking at his nails, trying to keep the grin from his face as he prepared to drop the biggest bomb of his life. “Also, he’s my soulmate.”

It took about two seconds for his words to sink in before Hunk and Pidge both screamed. Pidge vaulted off the back of the couch and ran at Lance full force, practically slamming him into the wall as they hugged him. Hunk wrapped his large arms around the two of them and squeezed them tight. Lance felt his feet leave the floor briefly as Hunk lifted them up and couldn’t help but laugh gleefully. 

“I’m so happy for you!” Hunk could barely contain his excitement, practically shaking with it. He was grinning so large and hard it practically took up his entire face.

“The guy you were going to give up your soulmate for was your soulmate all along,” Pidge muttered into Lance’s shoulder. “It’s kind of funny if you think about it.”

“Let’s go try to jumpstart your car,” Hunk let go of them, patting Lance on the back. “And I want you to tell us everything on the way.”

  
  
  


It felt weird going to class knowing how much had just changed. Actually, everything just felt weird in  _ general.  _ Lance had a boyfriend now, and even though things were normal suddenly it was  _ more.  _

A familiar tingling sensation on his arm had him pulling up the sleeve of his shirt. It was a small pattern, almost tribal, and Lance watched it unfold with so much adoration and excitement it felt like he might combust. Then, with a grin, he fished out a sharpie from his bag. He didn’t draw the penis on the pattern like he has done so many times in the past, but instead a little off to the side so he didn’t ruin Keith’s hard work. Keith immediately stopped drawing, and then next to the penis ‘ _ Ass’  _ appeared. Lance snickered and drew a heart.

Lance’s phone buzzed. 

_ From Keith: Do you work tonight? _

_ To Keith: Yes ;-; _

Lance could feel Haggar’s beady eyes beaming holes in his head as he texted. She could kiss his ass though. Lance was walking on the fucking moon right now.

_ From Keith: What about tomorrow? _

_ To Keith: I’m free after 4. Could be convinced to skip class tho  _

_ From Keith: I’m taking you out to dinner. Someplace that isn’t mexican. _

_ To Keith: Am I being wined and dined? ;) _

_ From Keith: I’m hardly olive garden rich. You’ll just have to see. _

If Keith’s idea of fine dining was Olive Garden, Lance had some things to show him. No boyfriend of his was going to be eating at Olive Garden and calling it a fancy dinner. Haggar made a gross sound in the back of her throat, prompting Lance to finally put his phone away. He tried to listen to her lecture, but he only barely got the essay assignment at the end of class. 

It was off to work then, and it took every ounce of his being to not drive to Keith’s work instead of his own. Josie noticed his mood almost immediately after he stepped in the Restaurant. She eyed him up and down with a small crook in her eyebrow. 

“You get laid,  _ conejito _ ?” She asked.

Lance just grinned and fixed his name tag. He had forgotten his at home so he snagged one of the cooks. Today he was Michael. Josie shook her head at him and pulled his nametag off of him, replacing it with hers with a small giggle.

“Whatever the reason,” she started. “It’s nice to see you so happy. Haven’t seen you like this in ages.”

“Keith was my soulmate,” Lance told her, still grinning. 

Her eyes lit up, “I told you so.”

Lance bumped her hip on his way out of the kitchen, laughing. His short shift felt even shorter, and even after dealing with difficult eaters he still had a bounce in his step as he went from table to table. He didn’t even get pissed when a group of ten stiffed him on the tip. He smoked his cigarette happily after work on his way home, grinning ear to ear and his music turned up as loud as his car could handle. He was incredibly grateful and relieved that Hunk was able to get his car working again. Life without Rosalina was not a life Lance wanted.

The first thing he did when he laid in bed was call Valeria. She picked up after a few rings, and he could hear children screaming in the background. Likely Mia’s. He missed those kids of hers so much it almost hurt. They had all been so little the last time he saw them and he hated to think about how big they must have gotten while he was gone.

“Watching the brats?” He asked.

“Mia and Keegan are on a date,” Val sounded exasperated and dead tired. “They won’t go to sleep. I’ve been trying for forever.”

“Put me on speaker,” Lance told her.

The screaming and laughter grew louder and Val did what he asked, and Lance had to yell to make sure they heard him. “Hey!  _ Pollitos _ ! This is your favourite uncle!”

All at once the three kids in the background screamed. “ _ Lance! _ ”

“Be nice to your  _ tia!  _ It’s time to go to bed now. Be good for me, please.”

“Night Lance! Night Tia!” Samantha, the oldest, shouted. One down, two to go.

“I don’t wanna go to bed,” Joel complained. Lance could hear the youngest, Lillynn, whining in agreement. Those two were practically joined at the hip. If he could convince one of them the other was likely to follow. They reminded him of him and Val.

“If you don’t be good I’ll tell your Mama and you’ll get in trouble.” He warned Joel. Or Lillyn. Or whichever one of them was actually listening.

Val sighed, “I already tried that-.”

“Okay,” Joel grumbed. “We’ll go to bed.

“Thank you,  _ pollito _ ,” Lance grinned. Victory.

“How do you do that,” Val groaned, taking the phone off speaker.

“I’m their favourite, that’s how.” Lance shuffled in his bed, kicking the blankets off his feet. He toed off his socks and kicked them to the floor, promising himself that he’d do laundry in the morning.

“So what’s up?” Valeria asked.

Lance couldn’t keep the grin off his face or his happiness out of his voice. “Keith’s my soulmate.”

“I fucking knew it!” Val screamed, so loud he had to pull the phone away from his ear a little. 

In the background Lance heard a small voice shout, “Language,  _ tia! _ ”

Lance snickered, “Yeah, Val. Language.”

“Shut up,” she grumbled. “So you guys together then?”

“Yep!”

“I might be making another trip down there.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Don’t do that. You’ve missed enough work for me already.”

“I could never miss enough work for you.” Val disagreed. “Actually. I could never miss enough work at all.”

Joel in the background started screaming again, “ _ Tia Val!  _ Lillynn bit me!”

Val sighed, “I’ve got to go, sorry Lance. You need to try and make it down, the kids miss you like crazy.”

Lance agreed, saying his goodbyes and hanging up. He stared at his phone for a moment before texting Keith. It was late, so he might not even be up, but Lance hadn’t had the chance to reply to him since he got to work.

_ To Keith: I’m looking forward 2 our date :) _

He waited ten minutes for a reply, and when he didn’t get one he quickly typed out.

_ To Keith: Night <3 _

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick question, now that the boys are together, if I wrote smut for this would it put you guys off or are you all for it?

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kudos are greatly appreciated! I try to respond to every comment


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